In 1215 Gilbert and his father were two of the barons made Magna Carta sureties and championed Louis "le Dauphin" of France in the First Barons' War, fighting at Lincoln under the baronial banner. He was taken prisoner in 1217 by William Marshal, whose daughter Isabel he later married on 9 October, her 17th birthday. In 1223 he accompanied his brother-in-law, Earl Marshal, in an expedition into Wales. In 1225 he was present at the confirmation of the Magna Carta by Henry III. In 1228 he led an army against the Welsh, capturing Morgan Gam, who was released the next year. He then joined in an expedition to Brittany, but died on his way back to Penrose in that duchy. His body was conveyed home by way of Plymouth and Cranborne to Tewkesbury. His widow Isabel later married Richard Plantagenet, Earl of Cornwall & King of the Romans.
Isabel Marshal was a medieval English countess. She was the wife of both Gilbert de Clare, 4th Earl of Hertford and 5th Earl of Gloucester and Richard, 1st Earl of Cornwall (son of King John of England). With the former, she was a great grandparent of King Robert the Bruce of Scotland.