1537 – Sir Humphrey Gilbert, born in England. He was an English adventurer, explorer, member of parliament, and soldier from Devon, who served the crown during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I of England.
1560 – 1561 – He went on to reside at the Inns of Chancery in London.
1563 – He was present at the siege of Newhaven in Havre-de-grâce (le Havre), Normandy, where he was wounded in June.
1566 – In July, he was serving in Ireland under the command of Sidney (then Lord Deputy) against Shane O’Neill, but was sent to England later in the year with dispatches for the Queen.
1569 – He was appointed to the profitless office of governor of Ulster and served as a member of the Irish parliament.
– In April, he proposed the establishment of a presidency and council for the province, and pursued the notion of an extensive settlement around Baltimore (in modern County Cork), which was approved by the Dublin council.
1570 – Returned to England, where he married Anne Aucher, who was to bear him six sons and one daughter.
1572 – He had turned his attention to the Netherlands, where he fought an unsuccessful campaign in support of the Dutch Seabeggars at the head of a force of 1500 men, many of whom had deserted from Smith’s aborted plantation in the Ards of Ulster.
1573 – Presented Elizabeth I with a proposal for an academy in London, which was eventually put into effect by Sir Thomas Gresham upon the establishment of Gresham College.
1578 – He sailed from Plymouth for America in November, with 7 vessels in his fleet, which was scattered by storms and forced back to port some 6 months later; the only vessel to have penetrated the Atlantic to any great distance was the Falcon under Raleigh’s command.
1579 – He and Raleigh were commissioned by the lord deputy of Ireland, William Drury, to attack his old foe, the rebel James Fitzmaurice Fitzgerald, by sea and land and to intercept a fleet expected to arrive from Spain with aid for the Munster rebels.
1583 – Died on the 9th of September in London, England.