My First Visit

My first visit.  Volunteer and author Louis Coulson tells us about his very first visit to the Wakes. As far back as I can remember I was interested in Nature, especially birds. To start with, there was A Bird Book for the Pocket by Edmund  Sandars, usefully divided  into Large Birds and Small Birds. I

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Gilbert White statue unveiled by Alan Titchmarsh

Alan Titchmarsh unveiled today (Tuesday 21st July) a statue of the 18th century natural history pioneer Gilbert White to mark the 300th anniversary of Gilbert’s birth. In his speech Alan said ‘You may wonder what on earth an 18th century clergyman can contribute to the way we live today, with

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Dr. Rosemary Irwin

Dr. Rosemary Irwin A message from Professor Khalid Aziz, Chairman of Trustees Gilbert White’s House & The Oates Collections – 23rd June 2020 I very much regret having to tell you that Dr Rosemary Irwin MBE, Chairman of Trustees of the Museum from 2008 to 2018 died this morning after

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Retracing Scott & Admundsen’s journey to the South Pole

Volunteer Anthony Fogg has embarked on a wonderful project comparing the expeditions of Scott and Amundsen.  INTRODUCTION Over the next year we are going to post a blog, updated periodically in ‘real time’, that takes you back to the ‘heroic age’ of Antarctic exploration. Captain Lawrence (Titus) Oates was part

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Gilbert White & The Oates Collections rescued thanks to National Lottery Heritage Fund.

Gilbert White & The Oates Collections have been successful in being awarded £47,500 from National Lottery Heritage Fund to support thanks to the Heritage Emergency Fund. Gilbert White & The Oates Collections is a rural independent museum celebrating the lives of explorers of the natural world, principally Gilbert White, the

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‘A man in total harmony with his world’

Gilbert White – “A man in total harmony with his world” – Sir David Attenborough Trustee Philip Geddes explains what makes Gilbert White so remarkable.  Gilbert White (1720 – 1793) is widely regarded as ‘the father of ecology’, the study of the interactions between organisms and their biophysical environment. You

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Flora Selborniensis: Then & Now

Flora Selborniensis: Then and Now In the tricentenary year of Gilbert White’s birth, we are carrying out a project to repeat the year-long document that became the Flora Selborniensis. White made regular observations of plants, particularly when they came into flower, during 1766. He also recorded what the weather was

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Gilbert White & The South Downs National Park

‘The prospect is bounded to the south-east and east by the vast range of mountains called the Susses-downs’ Gilbert White lived almost his entire life in the South Downs; he knew them intimately, travelling often from his home of Selborne in the far North West corner to his aunt’s home

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Anne White

Name: Anne White nee Holt Date of Birth: 1693 Married: September 1719 aged 26, to John White a trained barrister, and eldest sone of Rev. Gilbert and Rebekah White. Children: Gilbert (1720), Three babies who died in infancy between 1721 and 1723), Thomas (1724), Benjamin (1725), Rebecca (1726), John (1727),

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The Women in Gilbert White’s Life

As it is International  Women’s Day we thought we’d introduce you to the women in Gilbert White’s life. Anne White Anne Holt was born in 1693, the daughter of fairly wealthy Sussex farmer, she married John White in 1719 when she was 26 years old. John was a trained barrister

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