Gilbert William Schwenck

Gilbert, William Schwenck (b. 1836), was born in London, at whose university he graduated. He was called to the Bar in 1864, and was a clerk in the Privy Council Office from 1857 to 1862. Early in his literary career he wrote for Fun the Bab Ballads, which have subsequently appeared in book form. He has produced numerous comedies and dramas, among which the most notable were the Palace of Truth (1870), Pygmalion and Galatea (1871), and Dan'l Bruce (1877). The Happy Land (1873) was a political satire on three members of the then Liberal Ministry. But even the best of these did not mark him off from his contemporaries as did Sweethearts (1874), Engaged (1877), and still more the librettos which he wrote for Sir A. Sullivan's comic operas Trial by Jury, Princess Ida, The Sorcerer (1877), H.M.S. Pinafore (1878), The Pirates of Penzance (1880), Patience (1881), Iolanthe (1882), The Mikado (1885), Ruddigore (1887). The Yeoman of the Guard (1888) and The Gondoliers (1890) had more of pathos and less of satire, but were equally successful with the rest. In 1892 Mr. Gilbert furnished the book for Mr, A. Cellier's comic opera The Mountebanks, and in 1894 for Dr. Carr's His Excellency, while in 1896 he again collaborated with Sir Arthur Sullivan in The Grand Duke.