 The Gilberts had no children, but they had many pets, including some exotic ones.Gilbert wrote and directed a number of plays at school, but his first professionally produced play was "Uncle Baby", which ran for seven weeks in the autumn of 1863.In 1865–66, Gilbert collaborated with Charles Millward on several pantomimes, including one called "Hush-a-Bye, Baby, On the Tree Top, or, Harlequin Fortunia, King Frog of Frog Island, and the Magic Toys of Lowther Arcade" (1866).