Billinghay, Lincolnshire: ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ of Bernard Gilbert
The WW1 poet, playwright and novelist
Bernard Gilbert was born in Billinghay in 1882. He was a bright boy who went to a private school in Cambridge before coming back to the village to work at his fatherβs seed merchant business. But his passion was writing and he had poems, plays and novels published. It was said that instead of working Bernard was on his bed writing poetry.
Determined to be seen as a professional writer he sold the family firm. Bernardβs WW1 poetry varies from the stark βBelgium 1914β, the poignant βI Have No Ringβ and the humorous βGone To The Warβ.
Many of his works are written in the Lincolnshire dialect and he wrote about county people and places. His descendants have continued the writing. Bernardβs son Michael Gilbert was a prolific crime writer while his granddaughter Harriett Gilbert presents A Good Read on ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Radio 4.
Bernard Gilbertβs remembered with a plaque in St Michaelβs Church in Billinghay.
Location: Billinghay, Lincolnshire LN4 4HN
Photograph of Bernard Gilbert courtesy of Harriett Gilbert
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