Three hundred not out

It is 300 years since the Rev Gilbert White, creator of Nature writing, father of modern ecology and forerunner of Darwin, was born. John Lewis-Stempel salutes the man who put England’s Eden into words

If people that live in the country would take a little pains, daily observations might be made with respect to animals, and particularly regarding their actions and economy, which are the life and soul of natural history Gilbert White, May 12, 1770

IN the beginning was the word, and the word was that of the Rev Gilbert White. Ur-naturalist. Prophet of ecology. Creator, with the publication of his The Natural History and Antiquities of Selborne, of Nature writing. The gifts of White, born 300 years ago on July 18, were his own, but any biographer,in book or in article, must give thanks to the Church of England; the stipend for serving up a Sunday sermon supported the life of White’s other devotion, Nature study. He was the exemplar of that now extinct species, the English parson-naturalist.

Following a career at Oxford’s Oriel College, White returned to his home village of Selborne in 1755, where he inherited a house from Uncle Charles. (Today, The Wakes is a museum dedicated to White and another great Briton, Capt Lawrence Oates, of polar legend.)