His father served as Attorney General for the British government in the West Indies, where he spent much of his youth.

[4] Following the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War, he went back to England, only to permanently return to the United States in 1783.

[1] Trained for the law, he turned to divinity and for 25 years was rector of Trinity Church, Boston.

George Ticknor studied Latin and Greek under Gardiner's tutelage.

[5] He was the grandfather, through his son William, of Edward Gardiner (1825–1859), a prominent architect.