GILBERT, SIR WILLIAM SCHWENK (1836-1911), English playwright and humorist, son of William Gilbert (a de scendant of Sir Humphrey Gilbert), was born in London on Nov.
18, 1836. His father wrote novels, the best-known of which were Shirley Hall Asy'urn (1 863) and Dr. Austin's Guests (1866). Several of these novels were illustrated by his son, who developed a talent for whimsical draughtsmanship. W. S. Gilbert was edu cated at Boulogne, at Ealing and at King's college, London. He became a clerk in the education department of the privy council office in 1857. Disliking the routine work, he left the Civil Service in 1861, entered the Inner Temple, was called to the bar in Nov. 1864, and joined the northern circuit. His practice was incon siderable, and his military and legal ambitions were eventually satisfied by a captaincy in the volunteers and appointment as a magistrate for Middlesex (June 1891) . In 1861 he began to con tribute excellent comic verse to Fun, with humorous illustrations, the work of his own pen, over the signature of "Bab." These were collected in 1869 under the title of Bab Ballads, followed by More Bab Ballads. The two collections and Songs of a Savoyard were united in a volume issued in 1898, with many new illustra tions. The best of the old cuts, such as those depicting the "Bishop of Rum-ti-Foo" and the "Discontented Sugar Broker," were preserved intact.
While remaining a staunch supporter of Fun, Gilbert became dramatic critic to the Illustrated Times. Early in Dec. 1866 T. W. Robertson was asked by Miss Herbert, lessee of the St. James's theatre, to find some one who could turn out a bright Christmas piece in a fortnight, and suggested Gilbert ; the latter promptly produced Dulcamara, a burlesque of L'Elisire d'amore, written in ten days, rehearsed in a week, and duly performed at Christmas. He sold the piece outright for £3o, a piece of rashness which he had cause to regret, for it turned out a commercial success. In 1870 he was commissioned by Buckstone to write a blank verse fairy comedy, based upon Le Palais de la verite, the novel by Ma dame de Genlis. The result was The Palace of Truth, a fairy drama, poor in structure but clever in workmanship, produced .by Mr. and Mrs. Kendal in 1870 at the Haymarket. This was fol lowed in 1871 by Pygmalion and Galatea, another three-act "mythological comedy"; The Wicked World, written for Buck stone and the Kendals; and in collaboration with Gilbert a Beck ett, The Happy Land (1873) . Gilbert's next dramatic ventures inclined more to the conventional pattern, combining sentiment and a cynical humour in a manner strongly reminiscent of his father's style. These were : Sweethearts (Prince of Wales's theatre, Nov. 7, 1874) ; Tom Cobb (St. James's, April 24, 1875) Broken Hearts (Court, Dec. 9, 1875) ; Dan'l Druce (Haymarket, Sept. 11, 1876) ; and Engaged (Haymarket, Oct. 3, 1877). The first and last of these proved decidedly popular. Gretchen, a verse drama in four acts, appeared in 1879. A one-act piece, called Comedy and Tragedy, was produced at the Lyceum on Jan. 26, 1884. Two dramatic trifles of later date were Foggerty's Fairy and Rozenkrantz and Guildenstern, a travesty of Hamlet, per formed at the Vaudeville in June 1891. Several of these dramas were based upon short stories by Gilbert, a number of which had appeared from time to time in the Christmas numbers of various periodicals. The best of them have been collected in the volume entitled Foggerty's Fairy, and other Stories.
In the autumn of 1871 Gilbert commenced his memorable col laboration (which lasted over 20 years) with Sir Arthur Sullivan. The first two comic operas, Thespis; or The Gods grown Old (Sept. 26, 1871) and Trial by Jury (Royalty, March 25, 1875), were merely essays. Like one or two of their successors, they were, as regards plot, little more than extended "Bab Ballads." Later (especially in the Yeomen of the Guard), much more elabo ration was attempted. The next piece was produced at the Opera Comique (Nov. 17, 1877) as The Sorcerer. At the same theatre were successfully given H.M.S. Pinafore (May 25, 1878), The Pirates of Penzance; or The Slave of Duty (April 3, 188o), and Patience; or Bunthorne's Bride (April 23, 1881) . In Oct. 1881 Patience was removed to a new theatre, the Savoy, specially built for the Gilbert and Sullivan operas by Richard D'Oyly Carte (q.v.). Patience was followed on Nov. 25, 1882, by lolanthe; or The Peer and the Peri; and then came, on Jan. 5, 1884, Princess Ida; or Castle Adamant, a re-cast of a charming and witty fan tasia which Gilbert had written some years previously, and had then described as a "respectful perversion of Mr. Tennyson's exquisite poem." The impulse reached its fullest development in the operas that followed next in order-The Mikado ; or The Town of Titipu (March 14, 1885) ; Ruddigore (Jan. 22, 1887) ; The Yeomen of the Guard (Oct. 3, 1888) ; and The (Dec. 7, 2889). After the appearance of The Gondoliers a coolness oc curred between the composer and librettist ; Gilbert thought that Sullivan had not supported him in a business disagreement with D'Oyly Carte. But the estrangement was only temporary. Gilbert wrote several more librettos, and of these Utopia Limited (1893 ) and the exceptionally witty Grand Duke (r 896) were written in conjunction with Sullivan.
As a master of metre Gilbert had shown himself consummate, as a dealer in quips and paradoxes and ludicrous dilemmas, un rivalled. Even for the music of the operas he deserves some credit, for the rhythms were frequently his own (as in "I have a Song to Sing, 0"), and the metres were in many cases invented by himself. One or two of his librettos, such as that of Patience, are virtually flawless. Enthusiasts are divided only as to the com parative merit of the operas. Princess Ida and Patience are in some respects the daintiest. There is a genuine vein of poetry in The Yeoman of the Guard. Some of the drollest songs are in Pinafore and Ruddigore. The Gondoliers shows the most charm ing lightness of touch, while with the general public The Mikado proved the favourite. The enduring popularity of the Gilbert and Sullivan operas was abundantly proved by later revivals. Among the birthday honours in June 1907 Gilbert was given a knighthood. In 1909 his Fallen Fairies (music by Edward German) was pro duced at the Savoy. Gilbert was drowned at Harrow Weald, Middlesex, on May 29, 1911. (T. S.) See "W. S. Gilbert, An Autobiography" in The Theatre (April 2, 1883, pp. 217 seq.) ; Edith A. Browne, W. S. Gilbert (1907) ; A. Law rence, Life of Sir Arthur Sullivan (2 899) ; Cellier and Bridgeman, Gilbert and Sullivan and their Operas (Boston, '9'4)