Gilbert White's Selborne: 5 things you didn't know
A naturalist who thought swallows hibernate, a book never out of print and a word that may first appear in his diary.
Gilbert White, the naturalist of Selborne, suspected that some swallows hibernate in winter. Wikipedia calls it one of his strange theories, written before migration was understood.
Gilbert White, the Selborne naturalist, suspected that some swallows hibernate in winter. Wikipedia's Selborne article calls it one of his strange theories, written before migration was understood. He mocked the Swedish idea of swallows wintering under ponds, but he thought some might hibernate. Here are five more things about the village and the man.
The book that never went away
The Natural History and Antiquities of Selborne was published in 1789 by White's brother Benjamin and, according to Wikipedia and The Spectator, has never been out of print since. Wikipedia also says the first nine "letters" in it were never posted, because they were written for the book. That detail is a single-source claim.
He saw swifts mate on the wing
Wikipedia's Selborne article says White was the first person to discover that swifts mate on the wing. A book review we found through search says the same, though we did not open it in full.
The Zig Zag Path
White and his brother John cut the Zig Zag Path into the hillside to reach the Hanger. We have left out the date on purpose. Wikipedia says the 1760s, while Hampshire County Council and Petersfield Post walk notes say 1753. The Gilbert White walk leaflet turned up in our search but we haven't opened it in full.
The Wakes and the Oates Collection
The Wakes is now the Gilbert White's House museum. It also holds the Oates Collection, which commemorates Captain Lawrence Oates of Scott's Terra Nova expedition and his uncle Frank Oates, according to Wikipedia and the Art Fund. So one small house covers both an eighteenth-century naturalist and an Antarctic explorer. It is an odd pairing on paper, but it is what the museum holds.
The word "golly"
White's journal entry of 1775 is perhaps the earliest written record of the word "golly". Wikipedia puts it that way, and Futility Closet repeats it, and Etymonline also dates the word to White's 1775 diary. The hedge matters: a first written record is the kind of claim that can be overturned by a single earlier find, and nobody should treat it as settled. We have not confirmed it against the Oxford English Dictionary, so "may" is the right word.
About the swallows
David Quammen's essay on the hibernating swallow turned up in our search, though we did not read it in full. The wider point is that White was observing carefully and was still wrong about an idea that others of his day also held. That makes him more interesting, not less.
Visiting
Selborne is a Hampshire village, and the Wakes museum is where to begin. Check opening times before you travel.
Follow Waterlooville.co on Facebook for a new local story every day.
Share this article