4
John Gibson (1778-1840) manufacturing chemist
and fossil collector of Stratford, Essex.
John Gibson (1778-1840), Yorkshireman, fossil collector and manufacturing chemist, was
a partner with Luke Howard and Joseph Jewell and others in the Stratford based chemical
firm of Howard from 1813 until 1840 (Anon. 1947 p.15). While visiting friends near
Helmsley in the North Riding of Yorkshire in 1821, he noticed some bones and tusks had
been used with lumps of oolitic limestone to repair a road. John Gibson tracked these
back to an oolitic quarry adjacent to Kirkdale church. He soon realised the antiquity of
the bones which the quarry men had incorrectly assumed to be the remains of cattle which
had fallen into a chasm in the rock and perished. Gibson amassed and preserved a large
valuable collection of bones, tusks and teeth. For example he collected more than three
hundred hyaena canine teeth, belonging to at least seventy five individuals (Buckland
1823 p. 17). On his return to London he generously donated specimens to the Royal
College of Surgeons; British Museum and museum of the Geological Society. Drawings
by Mr. Clift of some of the more perfect specimens were sent to Cuvier, the great French
naturalist in Paris, to be incorporated into a new edition of his works (Buckland 1823
pp.14-15; Buckland 1842 pp.524-525, Kendall & Wroot 1924 pp.576-577). These
famous Pleistocene fossil mammal remains from a hyaena den at Kirkdale Cave,
Yorkshire were immortalised by William Buckland (Buckland 1823 p. 14) in his famous
book Reliquiae Diluvianae. These remains are considered to date to the last interglacial
(Ipswichian) period and be about 125,000 years old (Stuart 1982 p. 124).
Shortly after his discoveries in Yorkshire John Gibson was collecting Pleistocene fossils
from Ilford. In the Gentleman's Magazine for May 1824 (page 454) is an account of the
discovery, in a alrge brick pit, of the entire skeleton of a large mammoth at Ilford at a
depth of about 16 feet in a tenacious clay. He spent much time and effort diligently
collecting and preserving the bones. Later Professor Buckland and Mr. William Clift
helped him to excavate "a large tusk and several of the largest cylindrical bones of the
legs, many ribs and vertebrae, withthe smallest bones of the feet and tail lying close upon
one and other". Unfortunately he was unable to reassemble the skeleton estimated to
have been at least 15 feet high. Dr. James Mitchell (Manuscript Vol. Ill p. 115) referred to
this find as follows "A skeleton of an elephant was once discovered and great pains were
taken by a party of gentlemen from London, with the aid of plaster of Paris, to get out the
skeleton in a good state, but all to no purpose, the whole fell to pieces". Gibson used glue
as well as plaster of Paris to protect his specimens. Mr. J. Eliot Howard F.R.S. (1807-
1883), for example, asserted in 1880 that he well remembered seeing , as a boy, Mr.
Gibson's specimens being brought into his father's office at Stratford and being anointed
with a solution of glue to prevent them crumbling to pieces (Cole 1881 p.XXIX). In 1833
Gibson donated to the Yorkshire Museum "an interesting suite of bones of elephant,
rhinoceros, ox, etc from the diluvium of Ilford" (Anon. 1834 pp.2 & 13; Pyrali 1988
p.151). Dr. James Mitchell (Manuscript Vol. Ill pp.112) writing of Ilford about 1840
noted "The collection of Mr. Gibson in the Mile End Road has been much enriched from
this locality".
John Gibson was elected a Fellow of the Geological Society on 4th June 1824 and
remained a member until his death from a haemorrhage on 2nd October 1840 at Bow
Road, Bow, aged 62. In his will dated 31st May 1839, which was proved 24th October
1840, he is described as being of Stratford, Essex and Tredegar House, Bow. His estate
was estimated as being below £35,000. In his will he stipulated "... 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 absolutely..." (Will and Estate Duty
Office Register at Public Record Office PROB 11/1934 700 & IR 26/1547 582). He was
buried in St. John's Church, Stratford and a white memorial tablet placed on the north
aisle wall with the following inscription "In a vault beneath are deposited the remains of
... John Gibson who departed this life October 2nd 1840 Aged 62 years". Some of John
Gibson's Ilford specimens, including mammoth bones & teeth and bones of a large
Essex Field Club Newsletter No. 25, May 1998