Gilbert White, the first modern naturalist

Gilbert White was a pioneering English naturalist, ecologist and ornithologist, whose writings inspired Charles Darwin, among others. He is best known for his book 'Natural History and Antiquities of Selborne' which has not been out of print for 200 years.

White was born in 1720 and raised in the village of Selborne near Alton in Hampshire, where he later became the village curate.

His very influential book Natural History and Antiquities of Selborne was published in 1789, four years before White’s death. It began as correspondence between himself and other like-minded gentlemen of the time, where they discussed their observations and theories about local flora, fauna and wildlife. It is the fourth-longest constantly-in-print book in the English language, after only the King James Bible, the Complete Works of Shakespeare and The Pilgrim's Progress.

White believed in studying living birds and animals in their natural habitat which was an unusual approach at that time, as most naturalists preferred to carry out detailed examinations of dead specimens in the comfort of their houses or colleges.

It was White's focus on the behaviour of wildlife as much as its physical appearance that put him ahead of his contemporaries. He patiently observed the migration patterns of birds, flowering times of plants, even the hibernation routines of his pet tortoise Timothy, purely for the joy of understanding them. It marks him out as one of the first of the naturalists, and in modern eyes, ecologists.

White is also credited for first having used 'x' to represent a kiss in a letter written in 1763. He died in 1793. The family house is now a museum.