William Stephen Gilly

Born on 28 January 1789, he was the son of William Gilly (died 1837), rector of Hawkedon, Suffolk, and of Wanstead, Essex.

Public reaction to his Narrative took the form of subscription for the Waldensians, headed by George IV and Shute Barrington, bishop of Durham, in part for the endowment of a college and library at Torre Pellice in Piedmont.

The following year he became perpetual curate of St Margaret's Church, Durham, and in 1831 vicar of Norham, near Berwick-on-Tweed.

[1] Gilly became known for Narrative of an Excursion to the Mountains of Piemont, and Researches among the Vaudois, or Waldenses, London, 1824; 3rd edition, 1826.

[1] Wishing to better the life of agricultural labourers in north Northumberland, Gilly wrote The Peasantry of the Border; an Appeal in their behalf, Berwick-upon-Tweed, 1841 (2nd edition, London, 1842).