Gilchrist Alexander

Gilchrist, Alexander (1828-61), the biographer of Blake, the poet and artist, was born at Newington Green. He was called to the Bar in 1849, but practised hardly at all, giving his energies to literature instead. After some contributions to periodicals he wrote a Life of Etty, which appeared in 1855. Soon afterwards he went to live in Chelsea, where Carlyle was his next-door neighbour.

His Life of Blalte was unfinished at his death, but was completed by his widow (nee Burrows) and published in 1863. Both husband and wife were intimate with the Rossettis. Mrs. Gilchrist, who died in 1885, wrote a Life of Mary Lamb, and edited the second edition of Blake (1880). Her own Life and Writings were published by her son (1887).