Sir Joseph Henry Gilbert was born on August 1, 1817, in Hull, Yorkshire, England.

He was an English chemist, known for his long career spent improving the methods of practical agriculture. He studied chemistry at the University of Glasgow, University College, London, and at the University of Giessen, Germany. In 1843, he became the director of the chemical laboratory at the agricultural experiment station at Rothamsted, near St. Albans, the position he held until his death in 1901. His work involved the application of chemistry, meteorology, botany, animal and vegetable physiology, and geology to the methods of practical agriculture. In 1860, he became a Fellow of the Royal Society and in 1867, he was awarded a Royal Medal. In 1880, he presided over the Chemical Section of the British Association at its meeting at Swansea, and in 1882, he became president of the London Chemical Society. He was also an honorary professor at the Royal Agricultural College, Cirencester. He was knighted in 1893.

In 1850, he married Eliza Forbes Laurie (1819–1853) and in 1855, he remarried Maria Smith (1828–1916). He died on December 23, 1901, in St Albans, Hertfordshire, England.

Gilbert, Sir W(illiam) S(chwenck); b. Nov. 18, 1836, London, d. May 29, 1911, Grim's Dyke, Harrow Weald; English dramatist and librettist.

Dr. William James Giles was born in 1864 in Quebec. He was a dentist, and lived at 43 Windsor Avenue in Westmount. In 1909, he married Ada Eliza Almour (1892-1967). He died in 1922 in Kelowna, British Columbia.

Geologist and mining consultant J.E. Gill was born in British Columbia. He received his B.Sc. in mining engineering from McGill in 1921 and his Ph.D. from Princeton in 1925. In 1929 he joined the teaching staff of the Department of Geology; in 1957 he was named Dawson Professor of Geology, and he retired in 1969 as Emeritus Professor. Besides teaching, Gill consulted for the firm of W.F. James on mining problems, and served as an advisor to federal and provincial mining ministries. His special field of research was gold and he was instrumental in discovering deposits in Labrador, Québec, and Peru. An outcome of his double interest in teaching and mining discoveries was the Master's programme in mineral exploration which he organized at McGill.