Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 21.djvu/284

 from Spanish and German, by the late James Young Gibson. Edited by M. D. Gibson. With Memoir by Agnes Smith,’ 2 vols. London, 1887, 8vo.

[Memoir by Agnes Smith; Times, 15 Oct. 1887; Athenæum, 16 Oct. 1887; Academy, 16 Oct. 1887; Sonnets of Europe, Canterbury Poets Series; Mr. Duffield's translation of Don Quixote.] 

GIBSON, JOHN (1637–1717), colonel, son of Sir John Gibson, knt., of Alderstone, in Ratho parish, near Edinburgh, entered the Dutch army, and obtained a captain's commission dated 9 March 1675; as major, in 1688, he accompanied William of Orange to England. He obtained from the English war office his commission as lieutenant-colonel on 28 Feb. 1688–9; became colonel of a newly raised regiment on 16 Feb. 1693–4; and colonel of a regiment to be raised (afterwards the 28th foot, now 1st battalion Gloucestershire) on 12 Feb. 1701–2, holding the command until 1 Feb. 1704–5. He was lieutenant-governor of Portsmouth from 28 May 1689, until his death on 24 Oct. 1717. He was commander-in-chief in 1697 of the land-forces sent to capture Newfoundland. He left England in March and returned in October, having secured the fishing rights of the English settlers. After unsuccessfully contesting the representation of Portsmouth in January 1695–6, he was elected for the borough in 1701–2, and was knighted by Queen Anne 6 Sept. 1705.

He left two sons, Francis and James, and two daughters; Anne Mary, the eldest, married General Robert Dalzell (1662–1758) [q. v.], in whose biography in this dictionary it is erroneously stated that 'Sir John Gibson married Dalzell's sister.'

[Archives in the Hague War Office and Record Office; London Gazette; English private letters, Brit. Mus.; Luttrell's Brief Relation of State Affairs, containing very many references to Gibson's career at Portsmouth.] 

GIBSON, JOHN (d. 1852), portrait-painter, was a native of Glasgow, where he was largely employed. He contributed to the exhibition of the West of Scotland Academy. In October 1852 he took an active part on the committee engaged in hanging the pictures; he was subsequently present at the private view on 7 Oct., and attended the dinner afterwards. After returning home he revisited the exhibition gallery for some purpose, and was found lying dreadfully injured at the bottom of the stairs. He lingered till the following night, 8 Oct., when he died at an advanced age.

[Gent. Mag. new ser. 1852, xxxviii. 551; Glasgow Chronicle, 13 Oct. 1852.] 

GIBSON, JOHN (1794–1854), glass-stainer and sheriff of Newcastle, was a native of Newcastle, where he practised as an ornamental and house painter, and especially devoted himself to the art of enamelling in glass. Many of the churches at Newcastle and in the neighbourhood possess windows painted by him. Among them may be mentioned a figure of ‘Jesus Christ with the Cup of the Last Supper’ in the east window of St. John's Church at Newcastle, and a figure of ‘Jesus Christ bearing the Cross’ in the east window of St. Nicholas Church in the same town. Gibson devoted himself ardently to the study and promotion of the fine arts, and formed an extensive and valuable gallery. His taste and judgment were highly appreciated in Newcastle. He was elected a town councillor for North St. Andrews ward, and in 1854 served the office of sheriff of Newcastle. Shortly after vacating this office he died at his residence, the Leazes Terrace, on 25 Nov. 1854, aged 60.

[Gent. Mag. new ser. 1855, xliii. 108; Newcastle Guardian, 2 Dec. 1854; Newcastle Journal, 2 Dec. 1854; Mackenzie's Hist. of Newcastle, pp. 345, 761.] 

GIBSON, JOHN (1790–1866), sculptor, son of a market gardener, was born at Gyffin, near Conway, in 1790. At the age of seven he drew geese and other animals on a slate from memory. When he was nine years old his parents removed to Liverpool, where a stationer named Tourmeau lent him drawings and casts to copy. At fourteen he was bound apprentice to Messrs. Southwell & Wilson, to learn cabinet-making, but after a year he preferred to learn wood-carving, and his indentures were altered accordingly. The next year he wished to be apprenticed to Messrs. Francis, at whose works he had seen carvings in marble. They employed Luge, afterwards Chantrey's head workman, and Gibson soon copied a head of Bacchus by him, and made his first attempt in marble by carving a small head of Mercury in his leisure hours. Messrs. Francis offered to pay his employers 70l. to cancel Gibson's indentures. On their refusal Gibson neglected his woodcarving, and vowed he would be sent to prison rather than continue it. In the end his stubbornness triumphed, and he was apprenticed to Messrs. Francis, where his work attracted the attention of William Roscoe, for whom he carved a bas-relief for a chimneypiece, and executed a cartoon of Satan and his Angels, both of which are now in the Roscoe Institution at Liverpool, together with a bust of Roscoe by Gibson. A bas-relief in Sefton Church to the memory of Mr. Blundell, and