Gilbert Heathcote (1779 – 22 April 1831) was an officer of the Royal Navy who served during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars.
Heathcote was born into a gentry family in 1779, the youngest son of a baronet. He and a brother entered the navy, with Gilbert reaching officer rank during the French Revolutionary Wars. He was promoted to his first command early in the Napoleonic Wars, but his ship was wrecked in a gale. His career survived largely unscathed however, and he commanded several more ships, reaching the rank of post-captain during a period of service in the East Indies, before his health obliged him to return to Britain. He undertook a final spell of active service in the closing years of the Napoleonic Wars in command of a frigate, before retiring ashore, and dying in 1831.
Heathcote's career does not appear to have been unduly affected by the loss of Suffisante, and by September 1804 he was in command of HMS Cyclops, the guardship at Lymington. He left her in January 1805 and appears to have been without a ship until he undertook a period of service in the East Indies. He was promoted to post-captain on 25 September 1806 and succeeded to the command of the 38-gun HMS Sir Edward Hughes, replacing Commander Hood Hanway Christian, who had commissioned her in 1805. Heathcote's health seems to have broken down while on this situation, as he left Sir Edward Hughes later that September to return to Britain, and was reported by The Asiatic Annual Register to be "returning to Europe for the benefit of his health." Commander Edward Ratsey, formerly of the 18-gun brig-sloop HMS Harrier, was appointed to replace Heathcote.
Heathcote's health had improved by 1813 to allow him to return to active service with the command of the newly built 36-gun HMS Scamander, which he took over in October that year. Heathcote was assigned to service in the English Channel, and was in command until mid-1815, when command passed to Captain John Lewis. Heathcote does not appear to have had any further active service. He married Ann Lyell at Southampton on 23 March 1809, and at some point had his portrait painted by William Owen. He died, still at the rank of post-captain, on 22 April 1831.