William Gilbert

William Gilbert may refer to:

Politicians

Sports

Arts and drama

Others

William Gilbert (politician)

William Gilbert (23 February 1829 – 4 February 1919) was a politician and philanthropist in South Australia. He was a member of the South Australian House of Assembly from 1881 to 1906, representing the electorates of Yatala (1881-1902) and Barossa (1902-1906).

History

Gilbert was born in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, the only son of a successful millwright and engineer, and was educated at what was later described as the "best private school in the county" but which Gilbert himself criticised as "cramming Greek and Latin rather than teaching first principles", At 19 years of age he took over his father's business, and ran it for ten years. Around 1860 he followed his father into the flour-milling business with a mill at High Wycombe 20 miles from London. He was involved in agitation against the Corn Laws. The mill business was quite successful, though limited by lack of capital but a continual struggle against competitors, suppliers and debtors, and he sold his share to his partner and with his ailing wife emigrated to South Australia (perhaps influenced by the high reputation of Australian wheat), arriving in 1869.

William Gilbert (pastoralist)

William Gilbert (12 October 1850 – 29 March 1923) was a South Australian pastoralist and vigneron.

He was born the only son of Joseph Gilbert (1800–1881) of Pewsey Vale near Lyndoch and his wife Anna née Browne (1812–1873). He was educated at St. Peter's College, and in 1864 enrolled with Cambridge University.

In 1872 he helped Ted Bagot (1848 – 1881) and his foster-brother James Churchill-Smith (1851–1922) drove 1,000 head of cattle from Adelaide to the MacDonnell Ranges where he had acquired three leases centred on Owen Springs Station and Edward Meade Bagot another two, on Emily Gap and Undoolya Stations; this was recognised as one of the great droving feats of Australian pastoral history. He took up management of Owen Springs station in 1873 and in 1875 was managing of all his father's properties.

When his father died he disposed of Owen Springs, the freehold of 32,000 acres at Mount Bryan, and the Oriecowe run on Yorke Peninsula in order to concentrate on stock improvement at Pewsey Vale. It was not long before his wool was fetching record prices. He had considerable success with wines also, though according to one source, he treated winemaking more as a hobby than a business. Having increased output in one year to 17,000 imperial gallons (77,000 l) this would rank as a very serious hobby.

W. S. Gilbert

Sir William Schwenck Gilbert (18 November 1836 – 29 May 1911) was an English dramatist, librettist, poet and illustrator best known for the fourteen comic operas (known as the Savoy operas) produced in collaboration with the composer Sir Arthur Sullivan. The most famous of these include H.M.S. Pinafore, The Pirates of Penzance and one of the most frequently performed works in the history of musical theatre, The Mikado. These, as well as several of the other Savoy operas, continue to be frequently performed in the English-speaking world and beyond by opera companies, repertory companies, schools and community theatre groups. Lines from these works have become part of the English language, such as "short, sharp shock", "What, never? Well, hardly ever!", and "Let the punishment fit the crime".

Gilbert also wrote the Bab Ballads, an extensive collection of light verse accompanied by his own comical drawings. His creative output included over 75 plays and libretti, numerous stories, poems, lyrics and various other comic and serious pieces. His plays and realistic style of stage direction inspired other dramatists, including Oscar Wilde and George Bernard Shaw. According to The Cambridge History of English and American Literature, Gilbert's "lyrical facility and his mastery of metre raised the poetical quality of comic opera to a position that it had never reached before and has not reached since".