David Evelyn Gibbs

Other Events and Attributes:

• Residence: 1968-1994, Braishfield Manor, Paynes Hay Road, Romsey

Notes:

Educated at Eton 1944-49. Coldstream Guards.

After leaving Eton, joined the Coldstream Guards (Commissioned in 1950). Served for two years in North Africa and England, with a further three years on the Reserve. Attended Westminster Abbey as a Gold Staff Officer for the Coronation 1953 (Coronation Medal).

1951-52 worked at Fortnum and Mason. 1952 joined A. W. Bain Sons & Bevan, Insurance Brokers. 1957— Member London Stock Exchange.

In 1968 purchased Braishfield Manor and in 1977 planted a small vineyard which produced for the first time in 1979. Member of English Vineyards Association. Extensively renovated and enlarged the garden which is open to the public in the summer.

Portrait by Marientrau at Braishfield.
Portrait of family by Hugh Powell at Braishfield.

David married Phyllida Lovaine Plowden in 1959 in Hengrave Hall. Phyllida (daughter of Lieut. Colonel Piers Standish Plowden, OBE and Ethel Muriel Cynthia Critchley) was born in 1936; died on 11 Nov 1999 in Swallowcliffe, Salisbury. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

1. Quenelda Marjory Gibbs
2. Giles Evelyn Somerset Gibbs
3. Crispin Lancelot Gibbs

Other Events and Attributes:

• Departure: Shanghai, China
• Baptism: 22 Jan 1890, Wraxall, Somerset
• Residence: 1891, Wraxall, Somerset
• Residence: 2 Apr 1911, Windsor, Berkshire
• Arrival: 8 Mar 1928, San Francisco, California, USA
• Residence: 1931, St Marylebone, London

Notes:

7th son of Antony Gibbs of Tyntesfield. Baptised 22 January 1890 at Wraxall, Somerset. Educated at Eton College 1902-8. Buried at Shipton Moyne, Gloucestershire.

2nd Lieut. Somerset Light Infantry 1908; 2nd Lieut. Coldstream Guards December 1910, Lieut. July 1913. Coronation medal of King George V, 1911. In the Great War: Served in France, August 1914 till 1919. Adjutant, 2nd Battalion Coldstream Gds., November 1914-April 1916. Temporary Captain December 1914-July 1915. Captain July 1915. Staff Captain 1st Guards Brigade April-November 1916. Acting Lieut.-Col. in command of 2nd Battn. Coldstream Gds. November 1916-March 1917. Acting Major March-May 1917 and December 1917 to February 1918. General Staff Officer (3rd Grade) Guards Division, February to April 1918. Brigade Major 140th Infantry Brigade April 1918 to February 1919. General Staff Officer, 2nd grade (Intelligence) in British section of the Supreme War Council at Versailles February to June, 1919. Military Cross 1916 and bar 1917. Companion of the Distinguished Service Order, 1918. Mentioned four times in Despatches. Awarded 1914 Star, British War Medal, Allies' (Victory) Medal. After the War Adjutant 3rd Battn. Coldstream Gds. June to November 1919. General Staff Officer, 2nd grade, London District, December 1921 to August 1922. Aide de Camp to Lord Rawlinson, the Commander-in-Chief in India, November 1922 to March 1925, and awarded the North West Frontier Medal and one clasp in the Waziristan campaign. Second in command of 2nd Battn. Coldstream Guards when part of the Shanghai Defence Force, 1927-28. Commanded the British troops in Paris for Marshal Foch's Funeral, 1929. Lieut. Colonel December 1930, in command of 1st Battn. Coldstream Guards until 1934. A.A.G. War Office, 1934-38; retired pay 1938; Brigadier i/c Administration, London District 1939-45; reverted to retired pay 1945; recalled War Office in connection with Victory March, January-July 1946; reverted to retired pay 1946. Jubilee Medal 1937. Coronation Medal 1953 Coronation. Gentleman at Arms Her Majesty's Bodyguard.

Portrait by Marientrau, at Braishfield.

Lancelot married Marjory Florence Maxwell on 10 Jul 1929 in Westminster, London. Marjory (daughter of Sir Arthur Kenis Maxwell, Baron Farnham and Aileen Selina Purdon Coote) was born on 24 Apr 1906 in Dublin, Ireland; died on 5 May 1939. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

1st Hon. Marjory Florence, 1st daughter of Sir Arthur Kenlis Maxwell, DSO, 11th Baron Farnham of Farnham, County Cavan, Ireland. Baptised in Dublin.
Memorial window at Kilmore Cathedral, Kilmore, Eire.

Other Events and Attributes:

• Occupation: High Sheriff, county Somerset
• Baptism: 11 Jan 1842, St Johns, Paddington, London
• Residence: 1901, Paddington, London

Notes:

1st son of Tyntesfield. Baptised 11 January 1842 at St. John's, Paddington. Educated at Radley College 1855-7; matric. at Oxford (Exeter College) 2 May 1862; BA 1867; MA 1869; entered at the Inner Temple as a student 1865. Died at Tyntesfield 24 and was buried 29 April 1907 at Wraxall, Somerset. Memorial Inscription in churchyard there and in the chapel (Charlton chapel), in Tyntesfield chapel and Keble College chapel; Memorial window in Clyst St. George chapel. Will dated 23 March 1905, proved 12 July 1907.

After marriage, Charlton (see entry for William Gibbs of Tyntesfield) was his country residence till his mother died; thereafter Tyntesfield. He succeeded to his father's properties in Somerset and Devon. He bought Barrow Court in Barrow Gurney, Somerset, adjoining Flax Bourton, from John Henry Blagrave in 1881 and sold it (with most of its land) to his brother Martin in 1884 and he augmented the living of Barrow Gurney. He bought, about 1874, Barton Place in the parish of St. David, Exeter, the ancestral home of his wife's family. He was patron of the livings of Clyst St. George, Exwick, Stowe-nine-churches, St. Michael's in Paddington, North Newton and Otterbourne which were all in his father's gift, also of Alphington, Devon, and of Flax Barton (in which part of the Tyntesfield Estate lies) both of which he bought.

A member of the Council of Radley College 1890-7. He and his brother, Martin, gave to Keble College, Oxford, in their father's memory, the side of the main quadrangle of the College embracing the hall, library, common rooms and kitchen. The foundation stone was laid in 1876, on the same day that the Chapel given by their father to the College was opened (see also entry for William Gibbs of Tyntesfield), and the opening took place in 1878, when the two brothers, whose names had so far been withheld, were disclosed as the donors (the deed of gift hangs in the Senior Common Room of the College).

Wraxall church was restored (1893) at his chief cost (Sir Arthur Blomfield, architect), and he introduced the stained glass windows by Kemp, and screened off the Charlton chapel, adding to it the reredos by Kemp.

He joined the North Somerset Yeomanry Cavalry as Cornet, 3 January, 1871; Captain October, 1881; Hon. Major, 1881; Major, 1886; retired 1893.

Justice of the Peace for Somerset from about 1867 to 1907. On the Highway Board and Board of Guardians. High Sheriff of Somerset for 1888 and Deputy Lieutenant 1889-1907. An Alderman of the Somerset County Council to 1898. President of the North Somerset Conservative Association for a great number of years. A Life Governor of Bristol General Hospital. On Bristol Diocesan committees for the promotion of Church matters. (In Sidney Lee's 'Life of King Edward VII (1923-7) it is related that the King when Prince of Wales twice in 1881 pressed on Gladstone the bestowal of a Baronetcy on Antony Gibbs. His son Lord Wraxall told John Arthur Gibbs - fourth editor of the Gibbs Pedigree - that this story was inaccurate and he asked Lee to omit it from any later edition, the facts being that the Liberal Whip Marjoribanks (later Lord Tweedmouth invited Antony to an interview, at which he said that gladstone desired to suggest him to the Queen for a Peerage, making reference to his and his father's philanthropic works, but that Antony having then mentioned that he was a Conservative he heard no more of the matter

Portraits: as a child by John Phillip, miniature with his father and sister Dorothea by Sir Wm. Ross, oil by J. H. Lorimer; all last in possession of Lord Wraxall in 1930 (11). The portrait in the Hall of Keble College is a copy by F. George Swaish of the Lorimer.

Birth:
13 Hyde Park Gardens

Antony married Janet Louisa Merivale on 22 Jun 1872 in St. Michael's, Star Street, Paddington. Janet (daughter of John Louis Merivale and Mary Anne Webster) was born on 15 Dec 1850 in Kilburn, Middlesex; died on 10 Dec 1909 in London; was buried on 14 Dec 1909 in Wraxall, Somerset. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Baptism: 25 Jan 1851, Hampstead, London
• Residence: 1861, Exeter St David, Exeter, Devon
• Residence: 1881, Wraxall, Somerset

Notes:

1st daughter of John Louis Merrivale (died 1886) by his 1st wife Mary Anne, daughter of Joseph Webster. Baptised 25 January 1851 at the parish church of Hampstead, Middlesex. Died at 104 Eaton Square, Westminster, 10th and was buried 14 December 1909 at Wraxall, Somerset. Memorial Inscription in same places as her husband's except Keble College. Will dated 17 August 1908, proved 20 January 1910.

After her husband died she resided at Charlton aforesaid, and for her London house took 104 Eaton Sq., Westminster, in place of 16 Hyde Park Gds. aforesaid. the lease of which she sold. One of her brothers, George Montagu Merivale (1855-1931) was a partner in Gibbs, Bright & Co., Sydney, Australia, till 1924. Her father was Senior Registrar in Chancery and brother of Herman Merivale, C.B., and of Charles, Dean of Ely, whose lives are in Dictionary National Biography.

Her father's 2nd wife was his cousin, Frances Rose, sister of Baron John Benjamin Heath (born 1879), who was son of John Heath of the firm Heath and Co., Genoa. For the Merivale family and their relatives of the Heath, Drury, Malet and Frere families, and for printed books which refer to them see the book 'Antony & Dorothea Gibbs' by J.A. Gibbs. The friendship between the Gibbs and Merivale families began in 1803 when Antony Gibbs (born 1756) went to live at Cowley near Barton Place.

Portrait by Archer (1875) with her son George
(Lord Wraxall) was last in possession of the latter, 1930.

Arthur married Aileen Selina Purdon Coote on 8 Oct 1903 in Mallow, County Cork, Ireland. Aileen was born on 16 Oct 1878 in London; died on 1 Feb 1964 in Kensington, London. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Occupation: Head of Antony Gibbs & Sons
• Baptism: 21 Jul 1790, British Embassy, Madrid, Spain
• Residence: 1861, Paddington, London; Relationship: Head
• Residence: 1871, Wraxall, Somerset; Relation to Head of House: Head

Notes:

His baptism in Madrid is recorded in the Register of St. Mary Major, Exeter, see Additions of 1927 in the book 'Antony & Dorothea Gibbs' by J.A. Gibbs, p.XVI (4).

He was employed in Cadiz, Lisbon and England in his father's business 1802-5; in his uncle George's (George Gibbs of Redland) business (Gibbs Richards and Gibbs) in Bristol, 1806-8; in London under his father in the Portuguese Commission 1808-9; in London in Antony Gibbs and Son 1809-12. Partner in Antony Gibbs & Sons 1813-75; resident in Cadiz in charge of their House there 1813-22: head of A. Gibbs & Sons 1843-75 and sole partner 1843-7. During his headship the South American business prospered exceedingly. Member of Lloyds 1812-75.

After marriage his successive residences in London were 13 Hyde Park Street (number since changed) 1840-8, Gloucester Square 1849, Sussex Square 1850, 16 Hyde Park Gardens 1851-75, all in Paddington. He bought the estate and house of Tyntesfield, Wraxall, north Somerset in April 1844 from Reverend George Turner Seymour, at various times (notably 1862-4) greatly altered the house (John Norton one of the architects) and at the end of his life built the beautiful chapel to it (Sir A. W. Blomfield, architect). He added to his property in 1865 the adjoining estate and house called Charlton (in Wraxall parish) buying it from the Kingston family, and in 1870 he reunited Belmont and Tyntesfield, buying Belmont from his nephew George L. M. Gibbs. In Devon he bought back Pytte the ancient home of our family in Clyst St. George from the executors of General Doveton, in 1859, made other purchases in that parish, rebuilt cottages, and amongst other benefactions to the village and church gave a memorial window (1860) to his grandfather (George Abraham Gibbs of Pytte). He also bought from Lord Devon in 1873 an estate in Alphington, nr. Exeter (which extended into Whitestone). At Littlemore, Oxon, he bought in 1872 the house of his cousin and former partner Charles Crawley.

The village school and school-master's house at Clifton Hampden, Oxon, in 1847, and the Church at Flaxley, in Gloucestershire, in 1856 were both built at his cost (the architect being G. Gilbert Scott): so also in 1861 were St. Michael and All Angels Church in Star Street, Paddington, and its vicarage (architect Rhode Hawkins). In Devon, he built in 1868 the Chapel-of-Ease of St. Antony at Cowley in memory of his parents and of his own life there, and at the same time and with the same architect (R. Hawkins) the Church of St. Michael and All Angels and its vicarage in the parish of St. David, Exeter; and in 1872 he enlarged the church at Exwick and in 1874 built its vicarage on the site of the grounds of his father's one time residence Exwick House. Moreover, he contributed largely to the restoration of Exeter and Bristol Cathedrals. The endowments of the livings of Exwick, St. Michael's Exeter, and St. Michael's Paddington, were also gifts from him. He acquired the advowsons of Clyst St. George (1857), Exwick, St. Michael's in Paddington, Stowe-nine-churches, North Newton in Somerset, and Otterbourne in Hampshire (the latter because of its connection with Rev. John Keble). He founded in 1859 at Brixham, Devon, a Mission to Seamen of ships sheltering in Torbay, and in 1860 there the British Seamen's Orphan Boys' Home for the Western Counties, his interest in that parish being due to his temporary tenancy of Berryhead House there, the home of Rev. John Hogg.

Of all his gifts the most famous was the chapel of Keble College Oxford. He offered it to the College in 1872 (on the suggestion of his friend Sir John Taylor Coleridge), and himself laid the foundation stone on St. Mark's Day (25 April) 1873. He died in 1875, and his son Antony formally presented it at the opening service on St. Mark's Day 1876, conducted by the Archbishop of Canterbury. The same day Lord Salisbury (Chancellor of the University) laid the foundation stone of the block of buildings given to the College by William's sons Antony and Martin. W. Butterfield was architect both of chapel and block, as of the rest of the College.

William was an original (1832) member of the City of London Club and a member of the Athenaeum Club. Memorial Inscription in Wraxall church and churchyard at Tyntesfield chapel, Barrow Court chapel, Flaxley church, St. Michael's Paddington (rose window erected by the parish in his memory), St. Michael's Exeter, Keble College Chapel, Cowley chapel, Exwick chapel and St. Martin's Brighton.

For his life in detail up to 1824 and for some particulars as to his later years see book 'Antony & Dorothea Gibbs' by J. A. Gibbs. See also a booklet 'In memory of William Gibbs' (privileged printing Rivingtons, 1875) containing (inter alia) an article on his life and character by E.M.Goulburn, Dean of Norwich, reprinted from The Guardian newspaper.

For portraits and scultpures of him see Gibbs Pedigree (1904) p.16 and list in 'Antony & Dorothea Gibbs' by J.A. Gibbs, p.435. In the latter G. Richmond as artist of the posthumous portrait at Keble College is an error for Sir William B. Richmond, R.A. This portrait is wrongly stated to be after Boxall in 'Catalogue of Portraits in Oxford Colleges' by Mrs. Poole, Vol. III, part II, 1925. The portrait in the list in the book 'Antony & Dorothea Gibbs' by J.A. Gibbs by 'artist unkown' in possession of John A. Gibbs was by E. Gill and has since been destroyed. Portraits not in the lists are, one by Edward Opie, which was in possession of Lord Wraxall, and a copy in A. Gibbs and Sons' possession of the one of the Portraits by Boxall which is engraved by Cousins.



More information available at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Gibbs_(businessman)

Oxford Dictionary of National Biography - William Gibbs https://doi.org/10.1093/ref:odnb/89656

William married Matilda Blanche Crawley-Boevey on 1 Aug 1839 in Flaxley, Gloucestershire. Matilda (daughter of Sir Thomas Crawley-Boevey, 3rd Bart. of Flaxley and Mary Albinia Page) was born on 17 Dec 1817 in Eastgate street, Gloucester; died on 22 Sep 1887 in Tyntesfield, Wraxall, Somerset. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Baptism: 16 Jan 1818, St Michael, Gloucester, Gloucestershire
• Residence: 1881, Paddington, London

Notes:

During her widowhood Tyntesfield and 16 Hyde Park Gardens continued to be her residences. She built (1876-8) and endowed St. Michael's Home for Consumptives in the parish of Cheddar, Somerset in memory of her husband, redecorated the chancel of St. Michael's, Exeter, which he built, and improved Exwick church. She endowed Keble College, Oxford (1881) with a fund of an annual value of £800 for Scholarships and for other grants to students. She built and maintained (as also did her son Antony after her) a Cottage Convalescent Home ("St. John's Lodge") at Wraxall afsd. and also built there in 1885 the large village club and in 1887 seven almshouses ("The Jubilee Cottages"): also the Battle Axes Inn, establishing it in her own name and on the principle of temperance as opposed to teetotalism. She gave the site (the site was left to her by her husband, she left money to the Home in her will) for the Convalescent and Incurable Home at Woking, Surrey, founded in connection with the Sisterhood of St. Peter's Kilburn, which manages St. Michael's Home afsd. A ward in Weston-super-Mare Convalescent Home, where she undertook the cost of 33 beds, bore her name.

Memorial Inscription in Wraxall churchyard and church; Tyntesfield chapel; Barrow Gurney chapel (to which she game some windows); Flaxley church (organ remade in her memory); the chapel of Keble College; and M. windows in Barrow Court chapel.

Refer to the book 'Antony & Dorothea Gibbs' by J.A. Gibbs, especially pp. 33-5, 439 and 445-6 for her relations, ancestry, and 'Royal Descent', and for notes of printed books which refer to them; see also entry for her father Rev. Charles Crawley. A good memoir of her by "C.M.Y." (her friend and cousin Charlotte M. Yonge, the authoress) appeared in The Guardian newspaper at her death. For lists of Portraits and Sculpture see Gibbs Pedigree (1904) and the book 'Antony & Dorothea Gibbs' by J.A. Gibbs, p. 435, and add to them a drawing (1873) by C.W.S (was in possession of Martin A Gibbs).

John married Mary Anne Webster on 14 Mar 1849 in Sutton Coldfield, Warwickshire. Mary was born in 1829 in Penns, Warwickshire; died on 5 Oct 1857 in Exeter, Devon. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Christening: 22 Mar 1829, Sutton Coldfield, Warwickshire