26 Facts About Humphrey Gilbert

Humphrey Gilbert was a maternal half-brother of Sir Walter Raleigh and a cousin of Sir Richard Grenville.

Humphrey Gilbert's brothers, Sir John Gilbert and Adrian Gilbert, and his half-brothers Carew Raleigh and Sir Walter Raleigh, were prominent during the reigns of Queen Elizabeth I and King James VI and I Catherine Champernowne was a niece of Kat Ashley, Elizabeth's governess, who introduced her young kinsmen to the court.

Humphrey Gilbert was educated at Eton College and the University of Oxford, where he learned to speak French and Spanish and studied war and navigation.

Humphrey Gilbert was then sent to England later in the year with dispatches for the Queen.

Humphrey Gilbert was involved with Sidney and Secretary of State Thomas Smith in planning the Enterprise of Ulster, a large settlement in the east of the northern province of Ulster, by Devonshire gentlemen.

Humphrey Gilbert was then promoted to colonel by Lord Deputy Sidney and was charged with the pursuit of FitzGerald.

The Geraldines were driven out of Kilmallock but returned to lay siege to Humphrey Gilbert, who drove off their force in a sally during which his horse was shot from under him and his buckler transfixed with a spear.

Humphrey Gilbert advocated the killing of Irish non-combatant women and others under the following rationale;.

Humphrey Gilbert argued in favour of the crown prerogative in the matter of royal licenses for purveyance.

Humphrey Gilbert helped to set up the Society of the New Art with William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley and Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, both of whom maintained an alchemical laboratory in Limehouse.

The rest of Humphrey Gilbert's life was spent in a series of failed maritime expeditions, the financing of which exhausted his family fortune.

Humphrey Gilbert's fleet was then driven into the Bay of Biscay and the Spanish soon slipped past and sailed into Dingle harbor, where they made their rendezvous with the Irish.

Humphrey Gilbert then fell into a row with a local merchant, whom he murdered on the dockside.

Humphrey Gilbert became one of the leading advocates for the then-mythical Northwest Passage to Cathay, a country written up in great detail by Marco Polo in the 13th century for its abundance of riches.

Humphrey Gilbert made a case to counter the calls for a Northeast Passage to China.

Humphrey Gilbert's contentions won support and money was raised, chiefly by the London merchant Michael Lok, for an expedition.

The six-year exploration license Humphrey Gilbert had secured by letters patent from the crown in 1578 was on the point of expiring, when he succeeded in 1583 in raising significant sums from English Catholic investors.

The investors were constrained by penal laws in their own country, and loath to go into exile in hostile parts of Europe; the prospect of American settlement appealed to them, especially as Humphrey Gilbert was proposing to seize some nine million acres around the river Norumbega, to be parcelled out under his authority.

Humphrey Gilbert's crews were made up of misfits, criminals, and pirates, but in spite of the many problems caused by their lawlessness, the fleet reached Newfoundland.

Humphrey Gilbert claimed authority over the fish stations at St John's and levied a tax on the fishermen from several countries who worked this rich sea near the Grand Banks of Newfoundland.

Humphrey Gilbert ordered a controversial change of course for the fleet.

Humphrey Gilbert refused to leave Squirrel and after a strong storm they had a spell of clear weather and made fair progress.

Humphrey Gilbert went aboard Golden Hind again, visited with Hayes and insisted once more on returning to Squirrel, even though Hayes insisted she was over-gunned and unsafe for sailing.

Humphrey Gilbert was part of a prominent generation of Devonshire men, who combined the roles of adventurer, writer, soldier and mariner.

Humphrey Gilbert was outstanding for his initiative and originality, if not for his successes, but it is in his efforts at colonisation that he had the most influence.

Humphrey Gilbert was father to Ralegh Humphrey Gilbert, who was to become second in command of the failed Popham Colony in Maine.