Edward Gibbon

Edward Gibbon was an English essayist, historian, and politician. His most important work, The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, published in six volumes between 1776 and 1789, is known for the quality and irony of its prose, its use of primary sources, and its polemical criticism of organized religion.

8 May 1737

Born on the same birth day (8 May): Bertalan Székely • Bill de Blasio • Buakaw Banchamek • Candice Night • Charles Beauclerk, 1st Duke of St Albans • Joe Bonamassa • Keith Jarrett • Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla • Moulay Hassan, Crown Prince of Morocco • Norman Lamont • Thomas B. Costain

Born in the same month (May 1737): George Macartney, 1st Earl Macartney • William Petty, 2nd Earl of Shelburne