heh, yes, a happy co-occident :)

It seems there are at least four connotations of the term 'gentleman scholar, from what I can see:

1. 16th – 17th – 18th century English, referring to someone who was a student but a member of the social elite, therefore accorded social privileges not granted to other students who lacked that rank
2. 19th century English/American, similar to previous general sense but shading towards describing someone who was a wealthy patron of study, in effect an ‘amateur expert’ who had followed their passion for a subject even if lacking formal foundations of the discipline
3. 20th century English/American, similar to previous general sense but shading towards describing someone who was either a bit of a maverick in contrast to established university power structures or else a dedicated professional who put the ideals of learning above the internal wranglings of their profession (general connotation of unworldliness)
4. the Confucian ideal already referred to, which I suspect may have partly informed the Victorian era’s understanding of the term, though I could not confirm this without much more study