Category: Family

In my terraced street there have been a few false starts. The pavements were taken up to lay cables for TV; roofs were adorned with giant white mushrooms for TV; a proposal to communally install solar panels did not gain traction; plastic caddies for bio-waste likewise did not get wide take-up.

The most interesting of the Gilbey brothers is Walter. They were all good businessmen and philanthropic but Walter had a deeper hinterland. “In 1858, the year after his return from the Crimean War, Walter had married Ellen Parish, the fourth daughter of the landlord of the White Horse Inn at North Street, and soon after… Continue reading Sir Walter

W. A. Gilbey was founded in 1857 and was initially successful because wine imported from South Africa attracted less duty and the brothers passed on this advantage to their customers. That got them off the ground but almost immediately, in 1860, the rules changed.

My paternal great grandmother, Ada Kate, was a Gilbey.