GILBY, Anthony (d.1682), of Everton, Notts.

Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1660-1690, ed. B.D. Henning, 1983
Available from Boydell and Brewer

Constituency

Dates

Family and Education

6th s. of Sir George Gilby of Stainton, Lincs. by Elizabeth, da. and h. of Charles Fitzwilliam of Bole, Notts. m. c.1637, Ruth, da. and h. of Robert Rogers of Everton, 1s. d.v.p.1

Offices Held

Lt.-col. of ft. (royalist) 1644, col. by 1646; lt.-col. Lord Belasyse’s Ft. July-Oct. 1660; capt. Hull garrison Oct. 1660-?81.2

Gent. of the privy chamber June 1660-d.3

J.p. Notts. July 1660-d., liberties of Southwell and Scrooby 1664; dep. lt. Notts. c. Aug. 1660-1 , Yorks. (E. Riding) c. Aug. 1660-d.; dep. gov. Hull Oct. 1660-?81; commr. for corporations, Yorks. 1662-3, loyal and indigent officers, Notts., Yorks. and Hull 1662, assessment, Notts. 1663-80, Hull 1664-79; jt.-receiver of hearth-tax, Lincs. (Lindsey) and Hull 1664-9; sub-commr. of prizes, Hull 1664-7; commr. for recusants, (E. Riding) 1675.4

Biography

Gilby, descended from a minor Lincolnshire gentry family, acquired a modest leasehold estate in Nottinghamshire by marrying an heiress. An active Royalist, he served under Lord Belasyse in the Newark garrison and signed the articles of surrender in 1646. In the second Civil War he was again in arms in the garrison of Pontefract, compounding on a nominal fine of £25 in 1650. Described by the local major-general as ‘a dangerous enemy’, he was imprisoned for complicity in the projected rising of 1655. By January 1660 he was in London, attempting to enlist Presbyterian support for the Restoration.5

Gilby was returned in 1661 for Hull, where he was deputy to Belasyse, the governor. Although inactive in debate, and only once a teller, he was appointed to 170 committees, and, with his colleague Andrew Marvell, kept his constituents regularly informed of developments in the House. He served on the committee of 26 Nov. 1661 on the bill for the execution of those under attainder. In 1663 he helped to consider a petition from the loyal and indigent officers, and a bill to hinder the growth of Popery. He was listed as a court dependant in 1664. During the second Dutch war he took effective measures against conventicles in Hull by placing spies in every street, and suggested to Joseph Williamson that his presence was more important in the garrison ‘whilst the enemy is upon the coast’ than at Westminster. Sir Thomas Osborne listed him as a court dependant in 1669, when he was appointed to the committee to continue the earlier act against conventicles. He was one of the Members in debt to the crown in 1670, though only as surety for William Broxholme. He had no qualms about the harsh measures taken against Roman Catholics, telling his constituents that ‘they may thank themselves for it’, and evidently supported the bill to exclude them from Parliament ‘that now our laws will be made by those of our own religion’. He received the government whip in 1675, and was listed as an official. He served on the committees for the recall of British officers from the French service (10 Nov. 1675) and the Protestant education of the royal children (27 Mar. 1677). He was marked ‘thrice vile’ by Shaftesbury, and his name appeared on both lists of the court party in 1678, though in one of them it has been read as ‘Gibbs’. His name was mentioned by the informer Bedloe, once Belasyse’s servant, in his evidence to the House on the Popish Plot, and in his only recorded speech (assigned by Anchitell Grey to ‘Col. Rigby’) he demanded ‘a particular examination, that honest men may be vindicated, and others punished’.6

After the dissolution Gilby applied by letter to the corporation of Hull offering his services in the coming Parliament, but was turned down. The ordnance commissioners discovered that he had embezzled £650 Worth of lead and 12,000 bricks belonging to the Hull garrison. He was dismissed from his posts, but not otherwise proceeded against, ‘in consideration of his loyal and eminent services’. He was buried at Everton on 27 Apr. 1682, the only Member of his family to sit in Parliament.7

Ref Volumes: 1660-1690

Authors: P. A. Bolton / John. P. Ferris

Notes

  • 1. Fam. Min. Gent. (Harl. Soc. xl), 1227-8; Paver’s Mar. Lic. (Yorks. Arch. Soc. rec. ser. xl), 117.
  • 2. A. C. Wood, Notts. in the Civil War, 134; Merc. Pub. 19 July 1660; CSP Dom. 1660-1, p. 314; 1682, p. 33.
  • 3. Carlisle, Privy Chamber, 169.
  • 4. HMC 8th Rep. pt. 1 (1881), p. 275; Cal. Treas. Bks. ii. 642; iii. 244; iv. 695; PRO 30/24, bdle. 40, no. 41, f. 9.
  • 5. Wood, 116, 147, 167-9; Cal. Comm. Comp. 2632; Cal. Cl. SP, ii. 122, 337, 356, iv. 535, 555.
  • 6. CSP Dom. 1667, p. 315; 1670, p. 270; Grey, i. 323; vi. 185; Hull corp. letters, 909, 911.
  • 7. Hull corp. letters, 924; Cal. Treas. Bks. vii. 375; Notts. RO, Everton par. reg.