Joseph Gillow (5 October 1850, Preston – 17 March 1921, Westholme, Hale) was an English Roman Catholic antiquary and bio-bibliographer, "the Plutarch of the English Catholics".[1]
Born to an English Roman Catholic family, Joseph Gillow was educated at St Cuthbert's College, Ushaw. In 1878 he married Ella McKenna, a brewer's daughter, securing him a private income allowing him to pursue his antiquarian interests.[2]
He published various researches into the history of Catholicism in Lancashire, but his greatest achievement was the Biographical and Bibliographical Dictionary of the English Catholics (5 vols, 1885-1902). Unfortunately, to fit his material into the five volumes allotted him by his publishers, Gillow needed to abbreviate the later volumes.[2] No index was available until 1986.[3]
Gillow was appointed honorary recorder of the Catholic Record Society at its foundation in 1904, and was a frequent contributor to their transactions.[4]