Roger Gale (antiquary)

Roger Gale (27 September 1672 – 25 June 1744) was an English scholar and

Besides his governmental career, Gale was a member of the Society of Antiquaries and the Royal Society, where he served as treasurer. Gale was known as a collector of manuscripts and other antiquarian items, writing a few published works on those subjects. He donated his manuscript collection to his alma mater in 1738, and died in 1744. Although contemporaries felt he was one of the foremost scholars of his age, later historians have been less convinced, contrasting his learning unfavourably with his father's.

Early life

Roger Gale was the eldest son of Thomas Gale and Barbara Pepys. His father was Dean of York as well as a professor of Greek at Cambridge University, while his mother was a cousin of the diarist Samuel Pepys. Roger was born on 27 September 1672 at Impington, Cambridgeshire. Thomas and Barbara had a younger son, Samuel Gale, who also became an antiquary, and a daughter, Elizabeth, who became William Stukeley's second wife.^[1][2]

Gale was educated at

Gale also served as the first vice-president of the Society of Antiquaries, which was established in 1707. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society on 28 March 1717^[7] and was the treasurer of the Royal Society for a number of years.^[2] In 1736 he returned to his estates and retired from public life.^[5]

Antiquary and writer

Gale inherited his father's library of manuscripts and books, which he eventually donated to his alma mater, Trinity College,^[3] in 1738.^[5] Included in Gale's donation was one of only two complete manuscripts of the Liber Eliensis, now known as Trinity College MS O.2.1.^[8][9] Gale also collected coins, and donated his collection to Cambridge University.^[3]

In 1697 Gale translated Louis Jobert's La science des medailles into English, with the title of The Knowledge of Medals.^[2] This was designed as an instruction to the beginning coin collector, and also contained information to protect the new collector from fraud.^[2] Gale then, in 1709, published his father's work on the Antonine Itinerary, which Gale supplemented with his own notes and commentary. His last major published work was as the editor of a 12th-century manuscript register of the Honour of Richmond that was contained in the Cotton library.^[2] He also contributed a number of essays on antiquarian topics to the Philosophical Transactions journal put out by the Royal Society.^[5]

Gale's letters survive, and some were first published in the third volume of John Nichols's Bibliotheca Topographica Britannica in 1790. Later more appeared in Nichols' Literary Anecdotes, and then finally his complete letters were published in three volumes by the Surtees Society along with letters from his brother Samuel and brother-in-law William Stukeley.^[2] Nichols in 1781 declared that Gale was "one of the most learned men of his age",^[10] but later scholars have been less full of praise. D. C. Douglas, writing in the 1950s, contrasted Gale with his father, and felt that the younger Gale was given a greater reputation than he deserved. Notwithstanding Douglas' opinion, Gale's work did much to preserve important historical information, as he was a member of the new style of antiquary, who instead of working just with manuscripts, turned to the topography and other relics in the countryside. This group of antiquaries did much to record information that has since disappeared.^[2]

Death and family

Gale married Henrietta Roper, the daughter of Henry Roper of Cowling, Kent. She died in 1720. They had one son, Roger Henry Gale, who was born in 1710. Gale himself died on 25 June 1744 at his estates in Scruton, and was buried near the church there.^[2] There is no monument in the churchyard, as he stipulated in his will that he be buried in such a manner that no one would know exactly where he was buried.^[11] There are portraits of Gale at Trinity College, and St Paul's School.^[3]

Citations

References