Short answers, pulled from the story.
Sir Humphrey Gilbert was born around 1539 into the Devonshire gentry. He entered a world where his family connections were his only true currency. His mother Catherine Champernowne was a niece of Kat Ashley the governess to Queen Elizabeth I.
In the summer of 1569 Sir Humphrey Gilbert waged a campaign of terror against the Geraldines of Desmond led by James FitzMaurice FitzGerald. His forces showed no quarter to women and children and he captured thirty to forty castles. In December 1569 he was knighted by Lord Deputy Sidney in the ruins of a camp.
Sir Humphrey Gilbert championed the Northwest Passage because he argued before Queen Elizabeth that the Northeast Passage was a fool's errand. He believed the Northwest Passage existed by logic and reason despite the lack of evidence. His alchemical ambitions and obsession with polar routes were the driving forces behind his maritime ventures.
In 1579 Sir Humphrey Gilbert murdered a local merchant on the dockside in the port of Cobh in Cork. He also delivered a terrible beating to a local gentleman by smashing him about the head with a sword. These actions led to accusations of murder and piracy in the very ports he sought to claim.
Sir Humphrey Gilbert died when the frigate Squirrel went down with all hands on the 9th of September 1583. He refused to leave the ship despite pleas from his crew and sat in the stern reading a book. The frigate's lights were extinguished at midnight and the General was cast away.
On the 5th of August 1583 Sir Humphrey Gilbert took possession of Newfoundland including lands 200 leagues to the north and south for the English Crown. He cut turf to symbolize the transfer of possession of the soil according to the common law of England. The locals presented him with a dog which he named Stella after the North Star.