Julius Parnel GILSON [1189]

  General Notes:

Julius Parnell Gilson - Entered: pens. at TRINITY, Oct. 8, 1886. Born: 23 Jun 1868 [Younger] s. of Henry Robert, of 3, Park Place, Worksop, Notts. B. [June 23, 1868], at Worksop. School, Haileybury. Matric. Michs. 1886; Scholar, 1887; B.A. (Class. Trip., 1st Class., Pts I and II) 1889; M.A. 1893. Studied at Bonn, Hanover, etc., for a time. Assistant Master at Sherborne School for a short period. Assistant in the MSS. Department, British Museum, 1894. Assistant Keeper, 1909, and Keeper of MSS., and Egerton Librarian, 1911-29. Edited the Mozarabic Psalter (Henry Bradshaw Society) 1905; joint editor of the Catalogue of Royal and King's MSS. [p.57] and of the New Palaeographical Society's publications; edited the Burke-Windham Correspondence for the Roxburgh Club and prepared the invaluable 'Students' Guide to the MSS. of the British Museum.' A skilled Alpine climber. Resided latterly at Weybridge, where he died Jan. 16, 1939. Brother of the next. (Haileybury Sch. Reg.; Scott, MSS.; Who was Who; The Times, Jan. 17, 1939.)
Cambridge University Alumni, 1261-1900.

Julius Jottings No7
April 1902
Some Manuscripts of the British Museum.
Mr editor has politely requested me to give some account of the manuscripts in the British Museum now manuscripts are things that do not lend themselves to very brief descriptions and the space allocated to me in which to describe some 50,000 volumes, to say nothing of 65,000 charters and roles, 800 Greek and Latin Papyri, 15,000 detached seals and a few other trifles, is about the average amount occupied by catalogue entry of a single volume of special interest.

Perhaps, therefore, I had better restrict my subject a little. Again, I might talk of the insides or the outsides of the books, the literary works, the historical documents, the scientific study and dating of handwriting (called palaeography), or, with a better chance of entertaining you, the artistic interests of the ornamentation. Unluckily in the last case I could hardly show you round to any purpose without running up a big bill at the photographers, to which Mr editor might justifiably object. Well it is high time I began on something, so I will confine myself to one little collection a mere couple of thousand volumes called the Old Royal MSS S., And I will explain not so much what they are as how they came to be there In the days before printing, it will be remembered, almost the only considerable libraries were those of the wealthier monasteries, and one of the results of that many sided event, the English Reformation, was to flood the market, if I may be allowed the term with the dispersed contents of these collections. Fortunately, there were sane men who even in those troublous times who were not too busy in looking after their neighbours souls or their own pockets to see the importance of this.
One of these was the librarian of King Henry VIII, the antiquary John Leland. In his famous journey through England he had noted down the interesting MSS he found in monastic libraries, and when the the crash came he did his best to secure for the Royal library a good selection of those which he had noted. This formed the nucleus of the Royal Collection of MSS thousands, however, went to private collectors. One of the chief of these was the then Earl of Arundel, Henry Fitzalan. Arundel's daughters, like Lady Jane Grey and Queen Elizabeth, were brought up in the school of Renaissance learning, and there Latin and Greek at 14, if not so thorough as those of a modern high school young lady, were quite as showy. One of them married John, Lord Lumley himself a book collector, who bought much from Archbishop Cramer, and to him descended Arundel's library. Lumley died in 1609, and his library was purchased entire, or nearly so, by the young Prince Henry, eldest son of James I. On the early death of this promising young man the books came to the Royal library, and thus two of the chief collections into which the monastic spoils had drifted became united. Beside these, of course, there were other MSS in the collection. Some were gifts from authors, some were purchased by sovereigns, both before and after Henry VII, though few English kings have been at all bookish. A more important addition occurred under Charles II by the purchase of the MSS of a great West of England collector, John Meyer. Nevertheless, it is the spoliation of the Monastery's that gives to the old Royal Collection of MSS, which George II presented to the nation, its characteristic feature and makes it unique as a sample of what a library was before printing was known.
But here I am at the end of my space and I have not even described one manuscript.
Julius Gilson.

Books by Julius on his subject, are currently available online in 2009.

Death was 1929 Apr Qtr Chertsey Ref: 2a 109, above dates confused with his brother Robert Cary Gilson.

Obituaries
Mr J. P. Gilson
The British Museum Manuscripts.
We regret to announce that Mr Julius Parnell Gilson, Keeper of the Manuscripts and Egerton Librarian at the British Museum, died in a nursing home at Weybridge yesterday.
Mr Gilson who was born at Worksop in 1868, the son of Henry Robert Gilson, was educated at Haileybury and Trinity College Cambridge, of which he was a scholar and from which he took a first in both parts of the Classical Tripos. He was appointed an assistant in the Department of Manuscripts at the British Museum in 1894, and was promoted Assistant Keeper in 1909 and Keeper in 1912.
A correspondent sends us the following appreciation of Mr Gilson's career:
The news of Mr Gilson's death will come as a great shock to his many friends, who had hoped that his progress after a recent operation was such that his recovery would only be a question of a few weeks. A sudden relapse yesterday morning brought the end.
Mr Gilson was appointed to the Keepership of the Department of Manuscripts in 1912, on the retirement of Sir George Warner, his altogether exceptional gifts and wide knowledge having long marked him out for the post. By nature one of the most modest and unassuming of men, he placed his great learning unreservedly at the disposal of the public, without a thought of any personal gain, and no trouble was ever too great, whether on behalf of a serious scholar or a chance visitor with an often trivial query. No one who has had occasion to consult him can fail to have been impressed by his knowledge, but it is only those who have been privileged to work with him or under him that no its full extent and extraordinary variety. He whiles a fine classical scholar as well as a first rate mediaevalist, and he possessed also an unusual knowledge of early science, mathematics, theology, and Canon and civil law, as is amply demonstrated by his notes in the volumes of the Class Catalogue
in the Manuscript Students Room of the British Museum. His critical powers and his wide reading were also invaluable in dealing with literary and other autographs of all kinds, including the detection of forgeries; one of his last pieces of work was the rearrangement of the exhibition of autographs at the British Museum, and the writing of the introduction to the guide to that section. His name will be found also on the title page as one of those who assisted Dr W. W. Greg in his English Literary Autographs of the Elizabethan Period.
The list of works actually published under Mr Gilson's name is a small one, and gives no idea of his immense contribution to English scholarship. His name, however, will always live as one of the joint editors of the great "Catalogue of Royal and King's Manuscripts in the British Museum" published by the Trustees in 1921 after upwards of 30 years preparation; Mr Gilson's share in the work included the masterly introduction, as well as the compiling of many of the descriptions and the revision, with Sir George Warner, of the whole catalogue. He was also a joint editor from the start in 1903 of the New Palaeographical Societie's Facsimiles, the last number of which is in the press, and few people will ever know the immense amount of work which he devoted to the publications, work which it must be remembered was not only unpaid, but anonymous. Only the writers of footnotes acknowledging his help, and there are many of these know how great that help was, and how often his tentative allusion to some work quite unknown to them has resulted in the complete solution of their problem. The few publications that actually bear his name in include editions of the Mozarabit Psalter for the Henry Bradshaw Society, and of the Burke Windham Correspondence for the Roxburghe Club, and the invaluable "A Student's Guide to the Manuscripts of the British Museum" in the "Helps for Students of History" series printed by the S.P.C.K. A privately printed account by him of the Saxon Gospel's in York Minster Library was also issued in 1925. His reproduction, published by the Trustees, of the well known Exultet Roll in the British Museum, the introduction to which is as learned and full of information as it is concise.
It remains to say a word on the personal side, which is the one least known to the general public. His naturally somewhat retiring disposition made him seem at times a man of few words, and not everyone realised that the less he said the more he often felt. It was left for those who constantly met and worked with him to appreciate the kindness, ready sympathy, and sense of humour that were inate in him, qualities that never failed to appear in his letters to his friends. The British Museum and English scholarship have suffered an irreparable loss, while to his colleagues and his personal friends and in the former case of the two were synonymous, it is one that will become more and more apparent in the fullness of time. The deep sympathy of all will be felt with Mrs Gilson in her great sorrow.
The Times, Monday, June 17, 1929; pg 19; Issue 45231; col C.

Obituaries.
Mr J. P. Gilson.
The Rev Dr Bickersteth, Librarian of Canterbury Cathedral Library, writes:
It is impossible to sit in this library and not to recall the debt which it owes to Mr J. P. Gilson for just such acts of sympathy and of the scholarship as your obituary truly says marked his life, so intimately identified with the work of the Manuscripts Department of the British Museum. In 1905, at the request of the Dean (Dr Wace) and of the Librarian (Dr Edward Moore) Mr Gilson inspected the Chapter archives here, and after a careful survey issued a valuable report. In accordance with his recommendation the whole collection was thus brought into relation with the catalogue of Mr C. R. Bunce (1806), Canterbury's famous antiquary: the safety of the Chartae Antiquae, nearly 6000 in number, was ensured and at the same time made more accessible for research work. Quite likely Mr Gilson helped us to restore our Doomsday Monachorum, and superintendened the rotographing of the vellum leaves of the Duns Scotus MS. at the request of some Franciscan Fathers.
He was one failing in his courtesy.
The Times, Thursday, June 20, 1929; pg 11; Issue 45234; col C.

Julius married Helina Georgina PEARCE [1190] [MRIN: 373] on 8 Jun 1899. (Helina Georgina PEARCE [1190] was born in 1869.)