Daguerreotype photograph of John Philip Gell

The Reverend John Philip Gell (1816-1898) was born in Matlock, Derbyshire, and educated at Rugby School (where he was supposed to be the original of 'Old Brooke' in 'Tom Brown's Schooldays', published in 1857) and at Trinity College, Cambridge. He traveled to Van Diemen's Land (now Tasmania) to become the first warden of a new educational institution, Christ College, in 1846. In 1991 this became part of the University of Tasmania. Gell's lasting contribution was to establish its library, using both his own books and donations from friends and relatives. In 1849 he returned to England to marry Eleanor Isabella Franklin (1824-1860) whom he had met while her father, Sir John Franklin, was Governor of Van Diemen's Land.