Background
Gilbart was born on the 21nd of March, 1794 in London, United Kingdim.
Gilbart was born on the 21nd of March, 1794 in London, United Kingdim.
From 1813 to 1825 Gilbart was clerk in a London bank. After a two years' residence in Birmingham, he was appointed manager of the Kilkenny branch of the Provincial Bank of Ireland, and in 1829 he was promoted to the Waterford branch. He was the General Manager of the London and Westminster Bank 1833-1859, one of the first joint-stock banks in England. He did much to develop the system of joint-stock banking. On more than one occasion he rendered valuable services to the joint-stock banks by his evidence before committees of the House of Commons; and, on the renewal of the bank charter in 1844, he procured the insertion of a clause granting to joint-stock banks the power of suing by their public officer, and also the right of accepting bills at less than six months' date. His work and frequently updated books such as his Practical Treatise on Banking (1827) were eventually widely adopted to improve the British banking systems and laid the foundations of the modern publicly owned retail bank and Building Society movement. It was Gilbart who standardised the modern spelling of the word cheque in his book Practical Treatise on Banking, and formalised this in subsequent legislation. Some claim that the spelling was derived from early notes issued by Goldsmiths of London. He died in London on the 8th of August 1863. The following are his principal works on banking, most of which have passed through more than one edition: Practical Treatise on Banking (1827); The History and Principles of Banking (1834); The History of Banking in America (1837); Lectures on the History and Principles of Ancient Commerce (1847); Logic for the Million (1851); and Logic of Banking (1857).
Fellow of the Royal Society (1846)