Library volunteer Ian Bower rediscovers an early classic of the English countryside in the North East Nature Archive
The NHSN’s library collection is an amazing resource that contains an impressive collection of books encompassing all aspects of the natural world. The material ranges in date from the sixteenth century to the present day and contains many important and iconic volumes that represent significant milestones in the study and appreciation of nature.
During recent years an increased interest in the natural world has developed among many people, often as a means of enhancing personal wellbeing, both physical and mental. One of the primary recent reasons underlying this trend was the wide-reaching impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. The ensuing series of lockdowns and other restrictions on the normal lives of individuals often resulted in an opportunity for people to focus for the first time on the natural environment of their local area, and the variety of flora and fauna that they encountered on their daily walks. This helped to provide solace and consolation during an extraordinary and demanding time. NHSN’s ‘Nature’s Cure’ project is an attempt to bring together personal stories about the positive role nature can play in supporting people during times of need.
One of the books in the NHSN Library Collection that resonates most strongly with the benefits of engaging with all aspects of the natural world in your local area is Gilbert White’s Natural History and Antiquities of Selborne.
The library has a fine nineteenth-century edition of this title, which was first published in 1789. The book has never been out of print and has run to over 400 editions; peaks of interest in it coincide with periods of national stress and adversity such as the two World Wars and the Covid-19 Pandemic.
The Reverend Gilbert White was an unmarried Oxbridge don in holy orders, and a lifelong curate and a fellow of Oriel College, Oxford. In 1755, after the death of his father, he returned to the family home in the small Hampshire village of Selborne, where he remained for the rest of his life. White was not a trained scientist, but took an enthusiastic interest in the totality of the natural world that he observed in his local area. His primary emphasis was based upon keen observation of what he saw, the patterns and rhythms of life and the behaviour of all the animals, birds and other species that he encountered. He began to appreciate the interconnectedness and interdependence of what he experienced, and was as fascinated as much by the ordinary as the extraordinary. He meticulously recorded his thoughts in his Naturalist’s Journal, Garden Kalendar and Flora Selborniensis. Most importantly, White did not keep these notes to himself. He shared them in the form of letters to people with important roles in the study of the natural world. These included Thomas Pennant, who wrote British Zoology in 1766, and Daines Barrington, the then Vice-President of the Royal Society. White had met these people at his brother Benjamin’s publishing house, which was the first specialist natural history printers in London.
Though Selborne was a peaceful, timeless rural village, the historic period in which White was to write his “Natural History” was one of profound change and turmoil. The publication of his book coincided with the date of the French Revolution. There could hardly have been a starker contrast between the parochial stability of English country life and the bloody metropolitan dramas being played out in France.
The letters of White, which formed the basis for his subsequent book, contained many new and important contributions to the study of natural history. They provided some of the earliest records describing particular species and their behaviour. He wrote the first description of a harvest mouse; this is one of the mammals depicted in a memorial stained-glass window that was installed in his local church to celebrate his bicentenary.
White also offers what is probably the first description of what we now call the noctule bat. He describes it as “the great large bat” in a letter to Pennant in December 1769.
Perhaps White’s most important scientific achievement relates to his study of the behaviour of swallows, swifts and house martins and the mystery of migration that surrounded them. He was the first person to closely study and diligently record the behaviour of this group of birds, including their arrival times. This research assisted in work to unravel the mystery of bird migration, a conundrum of much debate among contemporary ornithologists.
White also spent significant time in observing insects and other small creatures, recognising that they all had a significant role to play in the complex web that formed and supported the natural environment. About earthworms he wrote on 20 May 1777:
‘Earthworms, though in appearance a small and despicable link in the chain of nature, yet, if lost, would make a lamentable chasm. For, to say nothing of half the birds, and some quadrupeds, which are almost entirely supported by them, worms seem to be the great promoters of vegetation, which would proceed but lamely without them.’
At the time earthworms were thought to be pests and regularly killed. White’s observations helped to create a significant change in both gardening and agriculture.
Another area in which White displayed a keen interest was that of the local weather. He made regular records of what he experienced on a daily basis. These now make interesting reading as a comparison between the climate of today and that of the 18th century.
January 7th.–Snow driving all the day, which was followed by frost, sleet, and some snow, till the 12th, when a prodigious mass overwhelmed all the works of men, drifting over the tops of the gates and filling the hollow lanes.
On the 14th the writer was obliged to be much abroad; and thinks he never before or since has encountered such rugged Siberian weather. many of the narrow roads were now filled above the tops of the hedges; through which the snow was driven into most romantic and grotesque shapes, so striking to the imagination as not to be seen without wonder and pleasure.
A telling insight into the personal character of White can be gleaned from his affectionate relationship with his pet tortoise Timothy, which he inherited from his aunt in 1780. Characterful observations of Timothy’s life and behaviour frequently appear in White’s book and his personal journals. An entry from June 5 1787 is as follows:
The tortoise took his usual ramble, & could not be confined within the limits of the garden. His pursuits, which seem to be of the amorous kind, transport him beyond the bounds of his usual gravity at this season. He was missing for some days, but found at last near the upper malt-house.
Many writers and artists have been inspired by White’s book, not just for its contents but because of the lyrical, attractive style in which it is written. Charles Darwin was a great advocate, and writers such as Virginia Woolf, W H Auden, John Clare and Samuel Taylor Coleridge were all influenced by him.
Famous visual artists such as Samuel Hieronymous Grimm and Thomas Bewick through to modern artists such as Eric Ravilious and contemporary artists and illustrators like Jo Sweeting and Mark Hearld have all found inspiration in White’s publication.
Gilbert White died at home on the 26 June 1793, aged 72. He is buried in the graveyard of St Mary’s Church in Selborne and has only a small, plain gravestone marked with the initials G W. A museum that celebrates his life and work can be visited, and the area where he lived remains largely unspoilt by time.
The legacy of Gilbert White has been profound and long-lasting. His personal philosophy of fostering a receptive and engaged interest in the natural world that he encountered is more important and relevant than ever in the contemporary world. Issues such as climate change, loss of natural habitats and declining biodiversity are causing increasing concern, but the positive and life-enhancing effect of developing an interest in the natural world remains as valid today as it was in Gilbert White’s time.
If you would like to view the NHSN’s copy of White’s book please contact the Great North Museum: Hancock Library. The email address is library@greatnorthmuseum.org.uk, or telephone 0191 2083555
The library also has a wonderful collection of contemporary books on all aspects of the natural world that are free for anyone to view, and can be borrowed by NHSN members.
