Thomas Field Gibson | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1803-03-03)3 March 1803 Canonbury, London, England |
| Died | 12 December 1889(1889-12-12) (aged 86) Hampstead, London, England |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Geology,palaeontology |
Thomas Field GibsonFGS (3 March 1803 – 12 December 1889)[1] was aUnitariansilk manufacturer and philanthropist. He supported several novel initiatives to enhance British manufacturing quality and international trade while improving life for working people during theIndustrial Revolution – particularly inSpitalfields where his business was centred. He also made important contributions to geology.
He was born to Thomas Gibson Snr and Charlotte née Field (who was SirFrancis Ronalds' aunt) at 2Canonbury PlaceIslington – his maternal grandparents and an aunt and uncle were living at No 6 and No 3 Canonbury Place respectively.[2][3] His paternal grandfather (another Thomas Gibson – a laceman and banker) was associated with SirRichard Arkwright’s commercialisation of mechanised cotton spinning through his brother-in-law Samuel Need.[4]
Gibson's schooling was with Unitarian ministers John Potticary inBlackheath (whereBenjamin Disraeli was a classmate) and James Tayler (father ofJohn James Tayler) inNottingham.[5][6] In adulthood he resided inBloomsbury; Hanger Lane,Wood Green; Elm House inWalthamstow (the birthplace ofWilliam Morris); Westbourne Terrace,Paddington; 10 Broadwater Down,Royal Tunbridge Wells; and finally inFitzjohn's Avenue,Hampstead. He married twice: to Mary Anne Pett and then to Eliza Cogan, daughter of Unitarian schoolmasterEliezer Cogan,[7] and his only child, Mary Anne, was born the week before her mother and namesake died.[1]
Gibson became a freeman of theWeavers' Company and took over his father's silk manufacturing business in 1829. From his warehouse in Spital Square, work wasput out to several hundredweaving families in theSpitalfields area. He also employed weavers inHalstead, Essex and was a partner in the Depotsilk throwing mill inDerby.[4][1][8]
Like other industrialists of the period, Gibson believed inlaissez-faire capitalism. He was an active member of theAnti-Corn Law League and supportedRichard Cobden again in negotiating theCobden-Chevalier Treaty in Paris, both of which had the goal of reducing importduties and promoting international trade.[5]
Education, and in particular practical education of the artisans in his area, was of considerable interest to him. His father founded the Spitalfields Mechanics' Institution in early 1825, not long after the LondonMechanics' Institution (nowBirkbeck College) was opened, and Gibson served on its Committee.[9][10] Not being a success, it was reoriented into the Eastern Literary and Scientific Institution, and Gibson was still its patron in the mid-1840s. Father and son also helped open and support a mission in Spitalfields with day and evening schools, adult education, a library, savings bank and benevolent fund, as well as pastoral visits to those in need.[citation needed]
Gibson was on the Council of the Government School of Design (now theRoyal College of Arts) established in 1837 and spearheaded the early creation of a branch school of design in Spitalfields that achieved valuable results.[11] He was then appointed to theRoyal Commission ofThe Great Exhibition of 1851. In subsequent years he was a Juror at theExposition Universelle (1855) and a British Commissioner at theInternational Exposition (1867), both held in Paris, and was awarded a Chevalier of theLegion of Honour.[5] He also helped organise theAnnual International Exhibitions held in London in the 1870s. Gibson was in addition a long-serving Councillor and benefactor ofUniversity College London andUniversity College Hospital.[1]
Gibson was a founding Director of theMetropolitan Association for Improving the Dwellings of the Industrious Classes, an earlyhousing association that built affordable and sanitary accommodation for rent. The second complex constructed by the Association was at Spitalfields and was open for viewing as part of the Great Exhibition.[10]Gibson Gardens, completed in 1880 inStoke Newington, was named in honour of Gibson's extended contributions to the Association.[6][12] He also served on theMetropolitan Commission of Sewers that directed the early work of engineerJoseph Bazalgette towards developing an integrated sewerage and drainage system across London.[13]
Gibson was in addition "a patron of geology",[14] being elected a fellow of theGeological Society of London in 1847 and serving on its Council.[15] Staying at his beach house atSandown on theIsle of Wight, he found thetype specimen of an important extinct plant species atLuccombe Chine in 1856–57. Studied byJoseph Dalton Hooker, Director of theKew Gardens,John Morris, the geology professor atUniversity College London, and Unitarian scholarJames Yates, it was then characterised byWilliam Carruthers of theNatural History Museum, and later namedCycadeoidea gibsoniana after the finder.[16] Gibson also presented a paper to the Geological Society on theIguanodonfemur he found on the island.[17]
Like his extended family, Gibson heldUnitarian beliefs. His father chaired the meeting on 26 May 1825 at which theBritish and Foreign Unitarian Association was formed to provide national co-ordination of Unitarian issues and both he and Gibson Snr presided at the annual meeting at different times.[18] Gibson Snr was also part of the group that successfully lobbiedParliament in 1828 to repeal theSacramental Test Act that preventedNonconformists from holding public office,[19] and chaired the controversial meeting of the committee of theSouth Place Chapel in 1834 that accepted the resignation of their ministerWilliam Johnson Fox – Fox had formed a close relationship with his wardEliza Flower and separated from his wife.[1][20] Gibson was on the South Place chapel committee as well.[citation needed]
He and his father were jointexecutors for the renowned Unitarian ministerThomas Belsham. Gibson helped his friend and third cousinEdwin Wilkins Field[2][3] as a trustee of theHibbert Trust for the first 25 years of its existence; its purpose was to support Nonconformist scholarship.[21] He was also on Wilkin Field's committee that built University Hall as a memorial to the passing of theDissenters' Chapels Act in 1844 and is now the home ofDr Williams's Library.[citation needed]
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