Edmund Gillingwater

[1][2] He married Mary Bond, a widow with sufficient means for Gillingwater to retire from business about 1788 and devote himself to writing.

Two years later he brought out by subscription An Historical Account of the ancient Town of Lowestoft in the County of Suffolk.

He made considerable collections for a history of Suffolk, consisting chiefly of extracts from printed books.

He was interested in theology; Samuel Burder, in the preface (p. xiii) of his Oriental Customs (1802), acknowledged his "obligations to Mr Gillingwater, of Harleston in Norfolk, for the very liberal manner in which he favoured him with his manuscript papers", which consisted of additions to, and corrections of, Thomas Harmer's Observations on divers Passages of Scripture.

His collections for a history of Suffolk came into the possession of Henry Jermyn of Sibton, who died later the same year, and were then sold at auction.