User:Vernon39/Gilbert Doble

Gilbert Doble DRAFT
Draft revision Version 2 13 Oct 2006

Gilbert Hunter Doble (November 26,1880 – April 15, 1945) was an Anglican priest and Cornish hagiographer.

G.H.Doble was born in Penzance, Cornwall on November 26,1880. His father, John Medley Doble shared his enthusiasm for archaeology and local studies with his sons.

He was a scholar of Exeter College, Oxford and graduated in Modern History in 1903 .He attended Ely Theological College.

Service as an Anglican Priest
He was ordained in 1907 and served a long series of incumbents, in various parts of England and Cornwall as Assistant Curate. His Anglo-Catholic leanings were a bar to his preferment. In 1924, when he spoke publicly on “Re-catholicising Cornwall”, a proferred appointment was withdrawn.

However, in Autumn 1919, was appointed Curate of the Parish of Redruth and served there until 1925. He then served for almost twenty years as the Vicar of Wendron, in Cornwall. In 1935, he was appointed an honorary canon of Truro Cathedral. During his parochial ministry, he was a great friend of children, especially those deprived of proper care, by familial poverty or the Workhouse.

Historical Work on Cornish Saints and Parishes and for Cornish Literature and Language
In between ministering to the needs of his parishioners, Canon Doble pursued a life-long study of sub-Roman Celtic Britain and Brittany, in which he gained a European-wide reputation. He was especially interested in the medieval vitae or 'lives', and additional legends, related to the early Christian holy men and women (or 'saints') of Cornwall, Wales and of Brittany. The fruit of his research was published between 1923 and 1945 in a collection of forty-eight booklets known as the “Cornish Saints Series”. The later issues (from 1928) include historical commentaries by Charles Henderson. They have since been republished in book-form but without the Henderson Commentaries. Until Orme's Saints of Cornwall was published in 2000, they were the most thorough, scholarly and reliable works available on the subject. He also collected Cornish folklore and folksong. He was a Bard of the Cornish Gorseth, with the name “Gwas Gwendron” (Servant of Gwendron) and received the Jenner medal of the Royal Institution of Cornwall.

He was responsible for the first performance of the Cornish miracle play “Beunans Meriasek” since the Reformation in June 1924 (in English translation). There have since been many acclaimed productions, including those in the original Cornish language. Canon Doble’s research also led to the revival of the Hal-an-Tow event at the annual Helston Flora Day.

Death
He died at Helston in Cornwall on April 15, 1945.

Manuscripts and Publications by G.H. Doble
In addition to the “Cornish Saints Series”, there was also a series of Histories of Cornish Parishes. His work on Welsh Saints has been collected into one volume and is currently in print October 13, 2006.

His personal library, including manuscript diaries, is at the Courtney Library, Royal Cornwall Museum, Truro