1. William Gell published topographical illustrations of Troy and the surrounding area in 1804.
20 Facts About William Gell
1. 2.
William Gell published illustrations showing the results of archaeological digs at Pompeii.
3.
The Gell family was one of the oldest families in England with a tradition of service in the Army, Navy, Parliament and the Church going back to 1209, in the reign of King John.
4.
William Gell was educated at Derby School and Emmanuel College, Cambridge.
5.
William Gell matriculated there in 1793, took a BA degree in 1798 and an MA in 1804, and was elected a fellow of Emmanuel.
6.
In 1801, at the age of 24, William Gell was sent on his first diplomatic mission to Greece.
7.
William Gell cited Jean Baptiste LeChevalier "and others" as his sources for the idea, which his own observations seemed to him to confirm, although he pointed out what he considered unresolved problems.
8.
William Gell published The Topography of Troy and its vicinity illustrated and explained by drawings and descriptions etc.
9.
William Gell was a great friend of Thomas Moore, Walter Scott and Lord Byron.
10.
William Gell wrote many books, most of them illustrated with his own sketches.
11.
William Gell was in 1807 elected a Member of the Society of Dilettanti and a Fellow of the Royal Society.
12.
William Gell went with Princess Caroline to Italy in 1814 as one of her chamberlains.
13.
William Gell gave evidence in her favour on 6 October 1820, at her trial before the House of Lords, stating that he had left her service merely on account of a fit of the gout and had seen no impropriety between her and her courtier Bergami.
14.
William Gell was a close friend of Keppel Richard Craven and travelled around Italy with him.
15.
William Gell had another house in Naples, where he received visitors including his particular friends Sir William Drummond, the Hon.
16.
William Gell died at Naples in 1836 and was buried in the English Cemetery, Naples.
17.
William Gell was a thorough dilettante, fond of society and possessed of little real scholarship.
18.
William Gell was a fellow of the Royal Society and the Society of Antiquaries of London, and a member of the Institute of France and the Royal Academy in Berlin.
19.
William Gell wrote Topography of Troy and its Vicinity ; Geography and Antiquities of Ithaca ; Itinerary of Greece, with a Commentary on Pausanias and Strabo ; and Itinerary of the Morea.
20.
William Gell is, together with his friends Edward Dodwell and Keppel Richard Craven, by some modern scholars seen as the founder of the study of the historical topography of the hinterland of Rome.