Life

George Gilpin is sometimes called the Elder, to distinguish him from the eldest son of his elder brother. He was was the second son of Edwin Gilpin of Kentmere

Kentmere

Kentmere is a valley, village and civil parish in the Lake District National Park, a few miles from Kendal in the South Lakeland district of Cumbria, England. It is historically part of Westmorland...

, Westmoreland

Westmoreland

Westmoreland is a historic county in England. It may also refer to:-Places:Australia*Westmoreland County, New South WalesCanada*Westmorland County, New BrunswickJamaica*Westmoreland, Jamaica, a parishNew Zealand...

, by Margaret, daughter of Thomas Layton of Dalemain, Cumberland

Cumberland

Cumberland is a historic county of North West England, on the border with Scotland, from the 12th century until 1974. It formed an administrative county from 1889 to 1974 and now forms part of Cumbria....

, and elder brother of Bernard Gilpin

Bernard Gilpin

Bernard Gilpin , was an Oxford theologian and then an influential clergyman in the emerging Church of England spanning the reigns of Henry VIII, Edward VI, Mary and Elizabeth I...

.

In 1553 George Gilpin was at Mechlin, where he was studying the civil law

Civil law

Civil law may refer to:* Civil law , a branch of continental law which is the general part of private law* Civil law , a branch of common law dealing with relations between individuals or organizations...

, when Bernard visited him. In 1554, George received a letter from Bishop Cuthbert Tunstall

Cuthbert Tunstall

Cuthbert Tunstall was an English Scholastic, church leader, diplomat, administrator and royal adviser...

, just released from the Tower of London

Tower of London

Her Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress, more commonly known as the Tower of London, is a historic castle on the north bank of the River Thames in central London, England. It lies within the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, separated from the eastern edge of the City of London by the open space...

, offering Bernard a benefice if he would return to England; George was anxious that his brother should accept the offer, and would seem at this time to have been still a Catholic. He must, however, have become a Protestant convert soon after, and in Elizabeth's reign become absorbed in politics.

He was for the rest of his life one of the queen's most trusted agents in her negotiations with the states of the Low Countries

Low Countries

The Low Countries are the historical lands around the low-lying delta of the Rhine, Scheldt, and Meuse rivers, including the modern countries of Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and parts of northern France and western Germany....

, frequently referred to in the State Papers,Francis Russell, 2nd Earl of Bedford

Francis Russell, 2nd Earl of Bedford

Francis Russell, 2nd Earl of Bedford, KG was an English nobleman, soldier and politician and godfather to Sir. Francis Drake.-Early life:...

 is said to have first brought him to court. In 1561 the queen in a letter to Sir Thomas Gresham promises to befriend his secretary Gilpin in any reasonable suit, and he would seem to have shortly afterwards become a salaried servant of the English government.

He handled English diplomatic affairs on an informal basis in the period 1579 to 1582, while Secretary of the Merchant Adventurers

Company of Merchant Adventurers of London

The Company of Merchant Adventurers of London brought together London's leading overseas merchants in a regulated company, in the nature of a guild. Its members' main business was the export of cloth, especially white broadcloth...

. He later served as English Secretary to the Dutch

Dutch Republic

The Dutch Republic — officially known as the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands , the Republic of the United Netherlands, or the Republic of the Seven United Provinces — was a republic in Europe existing from 1581 to 1795, preceding the Batavian Republic and ultimately...

 Council of State from 1586 and became a Councillor in 1593, remaining such until his death.

He was commissioned by Queen Elizabeth I to form an alliance between the Dutch States

Netherlands

The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

 and the English against the Spanish Armada

Spanish Armada

This article refers to the Battle of Gravelines, for the modern navy of Spain, see Spanish NavyThe Spanish Armada was the Spanish fleet that sailed against England under the command of the Duke of Medina Sidonia in 1588, with the intention of overthrowing Elizabeth I of England to stop English...

. He was minister to the Hague during her reign. He carried with him an autographed letter written by the Queen stating:

"Having charged Mr. Gilpin, one of our councilors of State, to deliver this letter, it will not be necessary to authorize him by any other confidence than what is already acquired by a long proof of his capacity and of his fidelity and sincerity, assuring you you may trust in him as in ourselves."

At the end of his life he supported the author John Dickenson

John Dickenson

John Dickenson was an English author, known as a romance-writer. He was a follower in the school of John Lyly and Robert Greene. He worked for a time in the Low Countries, and Germany. Employed by George Gilpin and Ralph Winwood, he may have been a spy, and certainly was an agent of the government...

, employing as secretary at The Hague

The Hague

The Hague is the capital city of the province of South Holland in the Netherlands. With a population of 500,000 inhabitants , it is the third largest city of the Netherlands, after Amsterdam and Rotterdam...

. His death is announced in a letter to Dudley Carleton

Dudley Carleton, 1st Viscount Dorchester

Dudley Carleton, 1st Viscount Dorchester was an English art collector, diplomat and Secretary of State.-Early life:He was the second son of Antony Carleton of Brightwell Baldwin, Oxfordshire, and of Jocosa, daughter of John Goodwin of Winchendon, Buckinghamshire...

, dated 2 October 1602, which mentions the difficulty of finding a successor.

Works

Gilpin published a translation of the ‘Apiarium Romanum’ (1571) by Philip von Marnix, seigneur de St. Aldegonde. The first edition is entitled ‘The Beehive of the Romishe Churche. Wherein the author, a zealous Protestant, under the person of a superstitious Papist, doth so driely refell the grose opinions of Popery, and so divinely defend the articles of Christianitie, that (the Sacred Scriptures excepted) there is not a booke to be founde either more necessarie for thy profite, or sweeter for thy comforte. Translated out of Dutch into Englishe by George Gilpin the Elder,’ 1579. The volume is dedicated to Philip Sidney

Philip Sidney

Sir Philip Sidney was an English poet, courtier and soldier, and is remembered as one of the most prominent figures of the Elizabethan Age...

. The second edition is entitled ‘The Beehive of the Romishe Churche. A Worke of all good Catholikes to be read, and most necessary to be understood. Wherein the Catholike Religion is substantially confirmed, and the Heretikes finely fetched over the coales. Translated out of Dutch into English by Geo. Gilpin the Elder. 1 Thess. v. 21. Newly imprinted, with a table thereunto annexed,’ 1580. Abraham Fleming

Abraham Fleming

Abraham Fleming was an English clergyman, and a prolific writer, translator, contributor to others' texts, editor and poet.-Life:...

compiled the table. Other editions followed in 1598, 1623, and 1636.

Many of Gilpin's letters are to Dudley Carleton. Calisthenes Brooke, writing to Carleton in Paris, calls him ‘your cousin Gilpin’.