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The following article about John Gibson has been compiled using the above template.
John Gibson (1778-1840) Palaeontologist
John Gibson was a manufacturing chemist and collector of fossils from Kirkdale Cave,
Yorkshire and Ilford, Essex. He was was baptised at Kirkby Moorside, Yorkshire on 15th
February 1778. Gibson was a native of Yorkshire, but later lived in Plaistow and Stratford,
Essex from about 1805-1830. By 1833 he was living in Tredegar House, Bow. His political
affiliation is not clear. In 1830 he voted for a Whig and a Tory candidate. Gibson's faith
is not in doubt. He was a committed Christian and a practising member of the Church of
England. John Gibson was elected church warden at St. Mary's Stratford, Bow, Middlesex
in 1836, 1837 and 1838. He was described as "able, polite and impartial".
John Gibson died after a short illness following a haemorrhage on 2nd October 1840 at
Bow Road, aged 62. He was buried in St. John's Church, Stratford on 19th October, and
a white marble memorial tablet placed on the north aisle wall. He wrote his will on 31 st
May 1839. His estate was estimated at being below £35,000. He was a very wealthy man
and his will mentions his furniture, plate, linen, china, glass, horses and carriages, wines
and liquors which he left to his wife. He stipulated in his will "...after my decease I give
my books, pictures, prints, philosophical instruments, coins, shells, fossils and all my
other natural curiosities unto my son John Gibson.
His parents were Jonathon Gibson, a labourer, and Betty Pridoms. He married Ann
Harrison, whose father was a tanner, on 1st May 1809 at Great Edstone, Yorkshire. They
had five children. His second son became a clergyman, both his daughters married
clergymen and four of his grandsons went into the church.
Essex Field Club Newsletter No. 56, May 2008
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