Introduction
Samuel Gilbert (died 1692?) was an English cleric and writer on floriculture.
Life
Gilbert was rector of Quatt in Shropshire, and chaplain to Jane, wife of Charles Gerard, 4th Baron Gerard of Gerards Bromley. He seems to have lived with his father-in-law John Rea, who died in 1681, at Kinlet, near Bewdley. The date of his death is uncertain.
Works
In 1676 Gilbert published a pamphlet entitled Fons Sanitatis, or the Healing Spring at Willowbridge in Staffordshire, found out by … Lady Jane Gerard, London, pp. 40. Some of the cures recorded in this work are attested by himself; it was suggested that he practised as a physician (Journal of Horticulture, 1876, p. 172). He also published the Florist's Vademecum and Gardener's Almanack (1683, subsequent editions in 1690, 1693, 1702, and 1713). The work is arranged according to the months.
Gilbert's writings contain verses, and it has been suggested that he also composed those in Rea's Flora, Ceres, and Pomona, 1676.
Family
Gilbert married Minerva, daughter of John Rea. They had one son, Arden, and four or five daughters.