Colonel Walter Raleigh Gilbert and family

Colonel Walter Raleigh Gilbert (1813-1896) is seen here with his wife and two eldest daughters. He was the Chief Constable of the County of Cornwall and, in 1861, was a retired Lieutenant-Colonel of the Royal Artillery on half-pay. He later served with the 1st Cornwall Artillery Volunteers.

On 16 December 1848 at St George's Church in Beckenham he married Marianne Charlotte Isabelle Peters, daughter of the banker and amateur photographer William Peters of Beckenham in Kent (later of Ashfold House, Slaugham, Sussex). The marriage produced four children.

The two girls seen here are Mary Mariamne [sic] Gilbert, born in 1851, and Cecilia Isabella Gilbert, born in 1853. Cecilia never married. She died, aged 82, on 14 July 1935 at Ilfracombe in Devon. Mary Mariamne Gilbert married army officer Wolstan Francis; the marriage was not a happy one. She died, aged 96, on 7 April 1948 at Weston-super-Mare in Somerset.

Colonel Gilbert died, aged 83, on 17 October 1896 at his residence, The Priory, Bodmin, Cornwall. He left an estate valued at £2088.

‘We regret to announce that Colonel Walter Raleigh Gilbert, C.B., Chief Constable of Cornwall, died to-day at Bodmin after a long illness, at the age of eighty-three. Deceased, who served twenty-five years in the Royal Artillery, was a descendant of Sir Humphrey Gilbert, who was a half-brother of Sir Walter Raleigh. Colonel Gilbert was much respected, and carried out his duties with great tact and courtesy. His last public service was at the Newlyn riots’ (Westminster Gazettte, 17 October 1896).

According to Home News for India, China and the Colonies (23 October 1896), he was also the Governor of Bodmin Gaol. Their obituary concludes: ‘He was born in 1813, and was educated at the R.M.A., Woolwich, and entered the Army in 1831.’

Photographed by Mrs Gilbert’s father William Peters.

[From an album compiled by Mrs Gilbert.]