Osborne-Gibbes Baronets
Encyclopedia
The Gibbes, later Osborne-Gibbes Baronetcy, of Springhead in Barbados
, was a title in the Baronetage of Great Britain. It was created on 30 May 1774 for Philip Gibbes, a wealthy Barbadian plantation owner, lawyer, and author of books dealing with the management of slaves and sugar estates. He also chaired the West India Planters' and Traders' Association.
, John Wesley
and Philip Yorke, 3rd Earl of Hardwicke
. He also conversed extensively in Paris
during the 1770s with Benjamin Franklin
on the subject of the American Revolution
. The First Baronet was considered to be a humane slave owner and an enlightened economic manager by 18th-century standards and the influential 1789 autobiography written by the ex-slave and abolitionist Olaudah Equiano
contains a positive description of him.
A member of London's Middle Temple
, he was appointed to the Barbados legislature, advising the island's governor in Bridgetown
on legal matters. According to the Website of the British Museum
, he designed and privately issued copper penny and halfpenny coins for Barbados in 1792 in order to help satisfy the island's need for small denomination units of currency. The coins were minted in England, as was an earlier issue inititiated by the First Baronet in 1788.
The First Baronet had been born into a life of colonial privilege in St James' Parish, Barbados, on 7 March 1731 and baptised that same year. Subsequently, he studied law in England before returning to the West Indies to take up his father's sugar estates. In his capacity as the head of the principal lobby group representing the interests of the Caribbean
plantation owners, he was received by King George III and the Prime Minister
, Lord North, and enjoyed ready access to senior politicians in London
, where he leased a town house at 4 New Burlington Street from 1798 onwards. He acquired a country house, too, at Tackley
in the English county of Oxfordshire
.
The First Baronet's health deteriorated in old age and he was afflicted with a severe loss of eyesight. He died at Springhead House on 27 June 1815, while under the care of a trusted plantation manager, and was buried in the grounds of St James Church, Barbados, where his tomb can still be seen. At the same church, in 1753, he had wed Agnes Osborne—the only child and sole heiress of another Barbadian planter of English origin, Samuel Osborne. (County Kent
was the ancestral home of the Osbornes; the family established a presence in Barbados in 1634 with the arrival of Richard Osborn[e] in St James' Parish.)
Lady Gibbes predeceased her husband, dying in London in 1813.
The First Baronet and Lady Gibbes had four children, all born on Barbados. They were raised largely in England by Lady Gibbes so that the First Baronet could concentrate on his business and political affairs in Barbados, London and Bristol. During the 1780s, she and the children resided near Wolverhampton
—at Hilton Park (the ancestral seat of the Vernon family) in rural Staffordshire
.
The children of the First Baronet and Lady Gibbes were, in chronological order: Philip (a Cambridge University graduate and judge on the Barbados bench) and Samuel (a sugar planter), both of whom married but predeceased their father in 1812 and 1807 respectively; Elizabeth (who wed Charles Abbot, 1st Baron Colchester
in 1796); and Agnes, who remained a spinster but was reputed to have had an affair with Frederick, Duke of York, allegedly producing an illegitimate child with him named Colonel John George Nathaniel Gibbes
(1787–1873). During the early 19th century, the First Baronet became estranged from his two sons. He criticised their standards of behaviour in letters written to his daughters and expressed disapproval of his younger son's choice of bride.
officer, Freemason and plantation owner, the Second Baronet was born in England on 27 August 1803 and christened Samuel Osborne Gibbes. He was the grandson of the First Baronet—by the First Baronet's younger son, Samuel, and Samuel's wife, Sarah Gibbes (née Bishop), of Exeter
, Devon
shire.
The Second Baronet assumed the additional surname of Osborne some years after his inheritance of the title in 1815. He thus became known as Sir Samuel Osborne-Gibbes during the latter part of his life, with his middle and last names joined by a hyphen.
Both of the Second Baronet's parents died when he was still a small child, living in the West Indies. Accordingly, he was brought back to England and placed under the legal guardianship of his uncle, Lord Colchester, until he reached his legal majority. He served as a page of honour to the Prince of Wales
—later King George IV of Great Britain
—and prior to entering the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst
in 1817 as an officer cadet, he was educated by private tutors in London and Paris under the daily supervision of his maiden aunt and chaperone Agnes Gibbes (1761–1843). The Second Baronet served in the 96th Regiment following his graduation from Sandhurst in 1819 and was aide-de-camp to the Governor of Nova Scotia
for a time; but opportunities for military promotion were limited in the wake of the Napoleonic Wars and he eventually resigned his commission, having attained captain's rank.
He appears to have resided mainly on Barbados from 1821 until 1833, when the British Parliament passed the Slavery Abolition Act
and freed the island's slaves. The Second Baronet received financial compensation from the government for the loss of his "human chattels"; but this did not prevent him from selling Springhead and his other plantations, which would have been far more costly for him to operate in the absence of an enslaved workforce. He returned to England to live with his wife, Margaret (née Moore, the grand niece of the Earl of Clonmell
), whom he had wed in Ireland
in 1825. Margaret died in 1847, however, and he married for a second time the following year. His new bride, Anne Penny, came from the County of Dorset. The Second Baronet's two marital unions produced a number of children, including the initial heir to the baronetcy, Lieutenant Philip Osborne-Gibbes, of the 41st Bengal
Native Infantry, who died while on military service at Multan
in 1850, aged 24.
During his time in England, the Second Baronet dwelt chiefly in Exeter and in the seaside town of Weymouth, Dorset, where he owned a house. In late 1850, however, he quitted the country of his birth for good. Accompanied by the second Lady Gibbes, he set sail for Sydney
in the burgeoning Australia
n colony of New South Wales
. His decision to come to Sydney may have been influenced by the presence there of his kinsman, Colonel Gibbes (see above), who been appointed the city's Collector of Customs
in 1834. Colonel Gibbes and the Second Baronet became friends and newspaper notices list them as attending Government House receptions together during the early 1850s.
The Second Baronet would remain in Sydney for about four years, residing in Argyle Place and being embraced by the upper tier of colonial society. In 1855, he was made Provincial Grand Master of New South Wales—a senior Masonic office. That same year he, his wife and their children left Sydney and moved permanently to New Zealand
, where further offspring would be born. The Second Baronet acquired 279 acres (1.1 km²) of farming land at Whangarei
, on New Zealand's North Island, erected a house (which he called "Springhead" after his former abode on Barbados), and went on to play a prominent role in the public affairs of the surrounding district and the local Masonic lodge . He was a member of the New Zealand Legislative Council
from 1855 to 1863. Among his wide circle of colleagues and acquaintances in New Zealand was the prominent parliamentarian and pastoralist Alfred Ludlam
, who was married to one of Colonel Gibbes' daughters.
The last decade of the Second Baronet's life was clouded by financial difficulties and he was obliged to dispose of most of his land and other assets. He died on 12 November 1874 and was interred at Christ Church, Whangarei. The Anglican Bishop of Auckland conducted the funeral service which was attended by a large number of friends, community leaders, Masons and soldiers. The dowager Lady Gibbes outlived him by 44 years, dying at Mount Eden
in 1918. She was survived by two sons (including the Third Baronet) and four daughters.
, County Essex
, England, but his birth was registered in Sydney—see the NSW Registry of Births, Deaths & Marriages, certificate number V1850502 37A/1850.) He was taken to New Zealand by his parents when still a small child and later educated St John's College, Auckland
. He became a regular church-goer as a consequence of his schooling and upbringing. In 1879, he married Sarah Mitchell, the daughter of a property owner and captain in the New Zealand militia. They had several children, including Alice Anne (born 1880), Hinermarama (born 1882) and Philip Arthur Osborne-Gibbes (born 1884)—who would become the Fourth Baronet.
A civil servant, the Third Baronet had entered the New Zealand Department of Education in Wellington
in 1871 as a clerk. He rose to become the head of the entire department, laying the foundations of the country's modern public education system during his 16-year term in office. (See T.J. Bertram's 1993 biographical article on the Second Baronet, cited below, for an assessment of his career as Secretary of Education.) The Third Baronet was a Freemason like his father and a keen sportsman. He died in Wellington on 29 September 1931. His surviving brother, Philip Osborne-Gibbes, a retired Gilbert Islands
trader, died in a Sydney hospital three years later without male issue.
The Fourth Baronet was born in Wellington on 17 May 1884. He wed Mabel Jeanetta Warner in 1913. Their marital union did not produce any children, however, and consequently the Osborne-Gibbes Baronetcy became extinct with the death of the Fourth Baronet on 8 February 1940 (although descendants of the Second and Third Baronet, through various female lines, are still living in New Zealand and Australia). The Fourth Baronet was a veteran of military service with the New Zealand armed forces during the First World War but unlike his predecessors, he had never felt comfortable with his aristocratic title, believing that it was an anachronism in a modern democratic society such as New Zealand's.
, the Gibbes family put down roots in a cluster of counties in England's West Country
—namely, Devon
shire, Somerset
and Dorset
—as well as settling in the Midlands
' county of Warwickshire
and the south-eastern county of Kent
. The standard British heraldic dictionaries show that members of the various county branches of the Gibbes family bore similar coats of arms. Their blazon
s normally featured three battle-axes and the Latin
motto Tenax Propositi (Firm of Purpose).
More specifically, the forebears of the Barbados baronets can be traced back to 14th-century Devonshire. Belonging to the landed gentry
, they intermarried with other propertied families and grew in importance during the reign of King Richard II of England
. They possessed a semi-fortified stone manor house
and barn complex named Venton and raised livestock near the edge of Dartmoor
. The British Listed Buildings' Website (under listing NGR: SX7506460515 for Venton house) states that: "The Gibbes were notorious local insurgents, who maintained a small private army from about 1501 to 1549." During the Tudor era
, members of the particular line of the Gibbes family that is the subject of this article left Devon for the neighbouring county of Somerset
, and are recorded in official documents as possessing a considerable amount of property in and around the small northern Somersetshire town of Bedminster. (See Betham's Baronetage, cited below.) Nowadays, Bedminster is a heavily built up urban area but was in medieval times—prior to the town's sacking in the English Civil War
and the later onset of coal mining in the region—a fertile and well-watered farming area.
Before long, the Gibbes had expanded their interests outside of Bedminister, acquiring further property in the nearby trading port of Bristol
, where they flourished as Merchant Venturers with links to the wool and cloth export industry and, later on, with the brewing industry as well. (After London
, Bristol was England's biggest medieval port and commercial hub.) One of the direct ancestors of the future baronets, Henry Gibbes (1563–1636), of Redcliffe
Street, was a mayor
of Bristol and an "alderman of the city". He married Anne Packer (1561-1631), of Cheltenham
, and an engraved brass memorial commemorating them and their children can be seen in Bristol's Priory Church of St James (see the church's Website).
Twelve months before his death, an ailing Henry Gibbes had sent the youngest of his three sons, Philip, to the newly colonised West Indian island of Barbados to seek his fortune. He would be joined later on Barbados by some other members of his immediate family—as well as by representatives of the wider Gibbes clan from different parts of England, who were fleeing the social turmoil and the widespread property destruction and loss of life wrought in the 1640s by the English Civil War. Barbados was in those days a proprietary colony
of Great Britain
. It became a refuge for the Royalist
supporters of King Charles I of England during the war, which culminated in the execution of the king, the victory of the parliamentary forces under Oliver Cromwell
, and the imposition of a Puritan
Protectorate
throughout Britain and her colonies which lasted from 1653 to 1659. (The British monarchy was restored in 1660 and Barbados was annexed by the Crown.)
Philip Gibbes was a supporter of the monarchy and a Cavalier
by political and religious persuasion. He acquired land on Barbados' west coast and prospered through the propagation of sugarcane
—an imported crop which thrived on the island. He died at his plantation in St James Parish of a tropical fever in 1648; but not before marrying a woman named Avis and founding an island dynasty that eventually led to his namesake great-grandson, Sir Philip Gibbes (the First Baronet)—among other male and female descendants. For details of their lineage, see the Gibbes pedigrees published in Burke's, Debrett's and Betham's baronetages cited below in the bibliography.
Like other wealthy Barbadian landowners of the 17th and 18th centuries, the Gibbes family made their money by harvesting and milling bulk loads of sugarcane that they grew on their plantations, using black slave labour, imported from Africa, to carry out this demanding work under the control of white overseers. They then shipped out the refined sugar for sale, at a healthy profit, on British markets. They also distilled and exported rum
and participated in the notorious Triangular Trade
.
Unfortunately for them, however, a fall in the price of West Indian sugar during the 19th century—coupled with growing competition from other sugar producing regions of the world, the disruptive impact of the Napoleonic Wars, and the scrapping of the British slave trade in 1807 on humanitarian grounds—put an end to the so-called golden age of the Barbados "plantocracy". Despite this, landmarks along the western coastline of Barbados such as Gibbes Beach, Gibbes Bay and the village of Gibbes still commemorate the family's name. (For accounts of the economic and cultural influence of the sugar trade, see, [1], Bittersweet: The Story of Sugar by Peter Macinnis (Allen & Unwin, Sydney, 2002); and, [2], Sugar: The Grass that Changed the World by Sanjida O'Connell (Virgin Books Ltd, London, 2004).)
, registered with the College of Arms
in London and incorporating the Red Hand of Ulster
(the baronets' badge), was as follows:
Shield: per fess argent and ermine, three battle-axes in pale sable. Crest: an arm embowed in steel armour, garnished or, and charged with a cross couped gules, the hand in a gauntlet grasping a battle-axe as in the arms. Motto: Tenax Propositi. (Source: Debrett's Baronetage of England (London, 1835), under "Gibbes", online edition, accessed September 2010.)
Originally, the Gibbes family's arms consisted of three vertical "Danish axes" depicted on an argent field; but due to the evolution of weaponry, the devices shown on the shield were changed over time from Viking
-style battle axe
s to their more ornate late-medieval equivalents.
Barbados
Barbados is an island country in the Lesser Antilles. It is in length and as much as in width, amounting to . It is situated in the western area of the North Atlantic and 100 kilometres east of the Windward Islands and the Caribbean Sea; therein, it is about east of the islands of Saint...
, was a title in the Baronetage of Great Britain. It was created on 30 May 1774 for Philip Gibbes, a wealthy Barbadian plantation owner, lawyer, and author of books dealing with the management of slaves and sugar estates. He also chaired the West India Planters' and Traders' Association.
The First Baronet
Sir Philip Gibbes, the First Baronet (1731–1815), was a cultivated, well-read English gentleman. His friends included Jeremy BenthamJeremy Bentham
Jeremy Bentham was an English jurist, philosopher, and legal and social reformer. He became a leading theorist in Anglo-American philosophy of law, and a political radical whose ideas influenced the development of welfarism...
, John Wesley
John Wesley
John Wesley was a Church of England cleric and Christian theologian. Wesley is largely credited, along with his brother Charles Wesley, as founding the Methodist movement which began when he took to open-air preaching in a similar manner to George Whitefield...
and Philip Yorke, 3rd Earl of Hardwicke
Philip Yorke, 3rd Earl of Hardwicke
Philip Yorke, 3rd Earl of Hardwicke KG, PC, FRS , known as Philip Yorke until 1790, was a British politician.-Background and education:...
. He also conversed extensively in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
during the 1770s with Benjamin Franklin
Benjamin Franklin
Dr. Benjamin Franklin was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. A noted polymath, Franklin was a leading author, printer, political theorist, politician, postmaster, scientist, musician, inventor, satirist, civic activist, statesman, and diplomat...
on the subject of the American Revolution
American Revolution
The American Revolution was the political upheaval during the last half of the 18th century in which thirteen colonies in North America joined together to break free from the British Empire, combining to become the United States of America...
. The First Baronet was considered to be a humane slave owner and an enlightened economic manager by 18th-century standards and the influential 1789 autobiography written by the ex-slave and abolitionist Olaudah Equiano
Olaudah Equiano
Olaudah Equiano also known as Gustavus Vassa, was a prominent African involved in the British movement towards the abolition of the slave trade. His autobiography depicted the horrors of slavery and helped influence British lawmakers to abolish the slave trade through the Slave Trade Act of 1807...
contains a positive description of him.
A member of London's Middle Temple
Middle Temple
The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court exclusively entitled to call their members to the English Bar as barristers; the others being the Inner Temple, Gray's Inn and Lincoln's Inn...
, he was appointed to the Barbados legislature, advising the island's governor in Bridgetown
Bridgetown
The city of Bridgetown , metropolitan pop 96,578 , is the capital and largest city of the nation of Barbados. Formerly, the Town of Saint Michael, the Greater Bridgetown area is located within the parish of Saint Michael...
on legal matters. According to the Website of the British Museum
British Museum
The British Museum is a museum of human history and culture in London. Its collections, which number more than seven million objects, are amongst the largest and most comprehensive in the world and originate from all continents, illustrating and documenting the story of human culture from its...
, he designed and privately issued copper penny and halfpenny coins for Barbados in 1792 in order to help satisfy the island's need for small denomination units of currency. The coins were minted in England, as was an earlier issue inititiated by the First Baronet in 1788.
The First Baronet had been born into a life of colonial privilege in St James' Parish, Barbados, on 7 March 1731 and baptised that same year. Subsequently, he studied law in England before returning to the West Indies to take up his father's sugar estates. In his capacity as the head of the principal lobby group representing the interests of the Caribbean
Caribbean
The Caribbean is a crescent-shaped group of islands more than 2,000 miles long separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north...
plantation owners, he was received by King George III and the Prime Minister
Prime minister
A prime minister is the most senior minister of cabinet in the executive branch of government in a parliamentary system. In many systems, the prime minister selects and may dismiss other members of the cabinet, and allocates posts to members within the government. In most systems, the prime...
, Lord North, and enjoyed ready access to senior politicians in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, where he leased a town house at 4 New Burlington Street from 1798 onwards. He acquired a country house, too, at Tackley
Tackley
Tackley is a village and civil parish beside the River Cherwell in Oxfordshire, England. It is about west of Bicester and north of Kidlington. The village consists of two neighbourhoods: Tackley itself, and Nethercott.-Archaeology:...
in the English county of Oxfordshire
Oxfordshire
Oxfordshire is a county in the South East region of England, bordering on Warwickshire and Northamptonshire , Buckinghamshire , Berkshire , Wiltshire and Gloucestershire ....
.
The First Baronet's health deteriorated in old age and he was afflicted with a severe loss of eyesight. He died at Springhead House on 27 June 1815, while under the care of a trusted plantation manager, and was buried in the grounds of St James Church, Barbados, where his tomb can still be seen. At the same church, in 1753, he had wed Agnes Osborne—the only child and sole heiress of another Barbadian planter of English origin, Samuel Osborne. (County Kent
Kent
Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...
was the ancestral home of the Osbornes; the family established a presence in Barbados in 1634 with the arrival of Richard Osborn[e] in St James' Parish.)
Lady Gibbes predeceased her husband, dying in London in 1813.
The First Baronet and Lady Gibbes had four children, all born on Barbados. They were raised largely in England by Lady Gibbes so that the First Baronet could concentrate on his business and political affairs in Barbados, London and Bristol. During the 1780s, she and the children resided near Wolverhampton
Wolverhampton
Wolverhampton is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands, England. For Eurostat purposes Walsall and Wolverhampton is a NUTS 3 region and is one of five boroughs or unitary districts that comprise the "West Midlands" NUTS 2 region...
—at Hilton Park (the ancestral seat of the Vernon family) in rural Staffordshire
Staffordshire
Staffordshire is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. For Eurostat purposes, the county is a NUTS 3 region and is one of four counties or unitary districts that comprise the "Shropshire and Staffordshire" NUTS 2 region. Part of the National Forest lies within its borders...
.
The children of the First Baronet and Lady Gibbes were, in chronological order: Philip (a Cambridge University graduate and judge on the Barbados bench) and Samuel (a sugar planter), both of whom married but predeceased their father in 1812 and 1807 respectively; Elizabeth (who wed Charles Abbot, 1st Baron Colchester
Charles Abbot, 1st Baron Colchester
Charles Abbot, 1st Baron Colchester PC, FRS was a British barrister and statesman. He served as Speaker of the House of Commons between 1802 and 1817.-Background and education:...
in 1796); and Agnes, who remained a spinster but was reputed to have had an affair with Frederick, Duke of York, allegedly producing an illegitimate child with him named Colonel John George Nathaniel Gibbes
John George Nathaniel Gibbes
Colonel John George Nathaniel Gibbes was a British army officer who emigrated to Australia in 1834, becoming a Crown-appointed member of the New South Wales Legislative Council and the Collector of Customs for the Colony of New South Wales for a record term of 25 years.In his capacity as head of...
(1787–1873). During the early 19th century, the First Baronet became estranged from his two sons. He criticised their standards of behaviour in letters written to his daughters and expressed disapproval of his younger son's choice of bride.
The Second Baronet
A British ArmyBritish Army
The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...
officer, Freemason and plantation owner, the Second Baronet was born in England on 27 August 1803 and christened Samuel Osborne Gibbes. He was the grandson of the First Baronet—by the First Baronet's younger son, Samuel, and Samuel's wife, Sarah Gibbes (née Bishop), of Exeter
Exeter
Exeter is a historic city in Devon, England. It lies within the ceremonial county of Devon, of which it is the county town as well as the home of Devon County Council. Currently the administrative area has the status of a non-metropolitan district, and is therefore under the administration of the...
, Devon
Devon
Devon is a large county in southwestern England. The county is sometimes referred to as Devonshire, although the term is rarely used inside the county itself as the county has never been officially "shired", it often indicates a traditional or historical context.The county shares borders with...
shire.
The Second Baronet assumed the additional surname of Osborne some years after his inheritance of the title in 1815. He thus became known as Sir Samuel Osborne-Gibbes during the latter part of his life, with his middle and last names joined by a hyphen.
Both of the Second Baronet's parents died when he was still a small child, living in the West Indies. Accordingly, he was brought back to England and placed under the legal guardianship of his uncle, Lord Colchester, until he reached his legal majority. He served as a page of honour to the Prince of Wales
Prince of Wales
Prince of Wales is a title traditionally granted to the heir apparent to the reigning monarch of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the 15 other independent Commonwealth realms...
—later King George IV of Great Britain
Great Britain
Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...
—and prior to entering the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst
Royal Military Academy Sandhurst
The Royal Military Academy Sandhurst , commonly known simply as Sandhurst, is a British Army officer initial training centre located in Sandhurst, Berkshire, England...
in 1817 as an officer cadet, he was educated by private tutors in London and Paris under the daily supervision of his maiden aunt and chaperone Agnes Gibbes (1761–1843). The Second Baronet served in the 96th Regiment following his graduation from Sandhurst in 1819 and was aide-de-camp to the Governor of Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the most populous province in Atlantic Canada. The name of the province is Latin for "New Scotland," but "Nova Scotia" is the recognized, English-language name of the province. The provincial capital is Halifax. Nova Scotia is the...
for a time; but opportunities for military promotion were limited in the wake of the Napoleonic Wars and he eventually resigned his commission, having attained captain's rank.
He appears to have resided mainly on Barbados from 1821 until 1833, when the British Parliament passed the Slavery Abolition Act
Slavery Abolition Act
The Slavery Abolition Act 1833 was an 1833 Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom abolishing slavery throughout the British Empire...
and freed the island's slaves. The Second Baronet received financial compensation from the government for the loss of his "human chattels"; but this did not prevent him from selling Springhead and his other plantations, which would have been far more costly for him to operate in the absence of an enslaved workforce. He returned to England to live with his wife, Margaret (née Moore, the grand niece of the Earl of Clonmell
Earl of Clonmell
Earl of Clonmell, in the County of Tipperary, was a title in the Peerage of Ireland. It was created in 1793 for John Scott, 1st Viscount Clonmell, Lord Chief Justice of the King's Bench for Ireland. He had already been created Baron Earlsfort, of Lisson-Earl in the County of Tipperary, in 1784, and...
), whom he had wed in Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
in 1825. Margaret died in 1847, however, and he married for a second time the following year. His new bride, Anne Penny, came from the County of Dorset. The Second Baronet's two marital unions produced a number of children, including the initial heir to the baronetcy, Lieutenant Philip Osborne-Gibbes, of the 41st Bengal
Bengal
Bengal is a historical and geographical region in the northeast region of the Indian Subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal. Today, it is mainly divided between the sovereign land of People's Republic of Bangladesh and the Indian state of West Bengal, although some regions of the previous...
Native Infantry, who died while on military service at Multan
Multan
Multan , is a city in the Punjab Province of Pakistan and capital of Multan District. It is located in the southern part of the province on the east bank of the Chenab River, more or less in the geographic centre of the country and about from Islamabad, from Lahore and from Karachi...
in 1850, aged 24.
During his time in England, the Second Baronet dwelt chiefly in Exeter and in the seaside town of Weymouth, Dorset, where he owned a house. In late 1850, however, he quitted the country of his birth for good. Accompanied by the second Lady Gibbes, he set sail for Sydney
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
in the burgeoning Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n colony of New South Wales
New South Wales
New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...
. His decision to come to Sydney may have been influenced by the presence there of his kinsman, Colonel Gibbes (see above), who been appointed the city's Collector of Customs
Customs
Customs is an authority or agency in a country responsible for collecting and safeguarding customs duties and for controlling the flow of goods including animals, transports, personal effects and hazardous items in and out of a country...
in 1834. Colonel Gibbes and the Second Baronet became friends and newspaper notices list them as attending Government House receptions together during the early 1850s.
The Second Baronet would remain in Sydney for about four years, residing in Argyle Place and being embraced by the upper tier of colonial society. In 1855, he was made Provincial Grand Master of New South Wales—a senior Masonic office. That same year he, his wife and their children left Sydney and moved permanently to New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
, where further offspring would be born. The Second Baronet acquired 279 acres (1.1 km²) of farming land at Whangarei
Whangarei
Whangarei, pronounced , is the northernmost city in New Zealand and the regional capital of Northland Region. Although commonly classified as a city, it is officially part of the Whangarei District, administered by the Whangarei District Council a local body created in 1989 to administer both the...
, on New Zealand's North Island, erected a house (which he called "Springhead" after his former abode on Barbados), and went on to play a prominent role in the public affairs of the surrounding district and the local Masonic lodge . He was a member of the New Zealand Legislative Council
New Zealand Legislative Council
The Legislative Council of New Zealand was the upper house of the New Zealand Parliament from 1853 until 1951. Unlike the lower house, the New Zealand House of Representatives, the Legislative Council was appointed.-Role:...
from 1855 to 1863. Among his wide circle of colleagues and acquaintances in New Zealand was the prominent parliamentarian and pastoralist Alfred Ludlam
Alfred Ludlam
Alfred Ludlam was a leading New Zealand politician, horticulturist and farmer who owned land at Wellington and in the Hutt Valley...
, who was married to one of Colonel Gibbes' daughters.
The last decade of the Second Baronet's life was clouded by financial difficulties and he was obliged to dispose of most of his land and other assets. He died on 12 November 1874 and was interred at Christ Church, Whangarei. The Anglican Bishop of Auckland conducted the funeral service which was attended by a large number of friends, community leaders, Masons and soldiers. The dowager Lady Gibbes outlived him by 44 years, dying at Mount Eden
Mount Eden
Mount Eden is the name of a cinder cone and surrounding suburb in Auckland City, New Zealand, situated five kilometres south of the city centre. The mountain is the highest natural point in the whole of Auckland...
in 1918. She was survived by two sons (including the Third Baronet) and four daughters.
The Third & Fourth Baronets
The Third Baronet, the eldest surviving male child of the Second Baronet, was born at sea, en route to Sydney, in November 1850. (Some genealogical sources state that he was born in ColchesterColchester
Colchester is an historic town and the largest settlement within the borough of Colchester in Essex, England.At the time of the census in 2001, it had a population of 104,390. However, the population is rapidly increasing, and has been named as one of Britain's fastest growing towns. As the...
, County Essex
Essex
Essex is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England, and one of the home counties. It is located to the northeast of Greater London. It borders with Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent to the South and London to the south west...
, England, but his birth was registered in Sydney—see the NSW Registry of Births, Deaths & Marriages, certificate number V1850502 37A/1850.) He was taken to New Zealand by his parents when still a small child and later educated St John's College, Auckland
St John's College, Auckland
The College of St John the Evangelist, located in Meadowbank, Auckland, New Zealand, is the theological college of the Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia...
. He became a regular church-goer as a consequence of his schooling and upbringing. In 1879, he married Sarah Mitchell, the daughter of a property owner and captain in the New Zealand militia. They had several children, including Alice Anne (born 1880), Hinermarama (born 1882) and Philip Arthur Osborne-Gibbes (born 1884)—who would become the Fourth Baronet.
A civil servant, the Third Baronet had entered the New Zealand Department of Education in Wellington
Wellington
Wellington is the capital city and third most populous urban area of New Zealand, although it is likely to have surpassed Christchurch due to the exodus following the Canterbury Earthquake. It is at the southwestern tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Rimutaka Range...
in 1871 as a clerk. He rose to become the head of the entire department, laying the foundations of the country's modern public education system during his 16-year term in office. (See T.J. Bertram's 1993 biographical article on the Second Baronet, cited below, for an assessment of his career as Secretary of Education.) The Third Baronet was a Freemason like his father and a keen sportsman. He died in Wellington on 29 September 1931. His surviving brother, Philip Osborne-Gibbes, a retired Gilbert Islands
Gilbert Islands
The Gilbert Islands are a chain of sixteen atolls and coral islands in the Pacific Ocean. They are the main part of Republic of Kiribati and include Tarawa, the site of the country's capital and residence of almost half of the population.-Geography:The atolls and islands of the Gilbert Islands...
trader, died in a Sydney hospital three years later without male issue.
The Fourth Baronet was born in Wellington on 17 May 1884. He wed Mabel Jeanetta Warner in 1913. Their marital union did not produce any children, however, and consequently the Osborne-Gibbes Baronetcy became extinct with the death of the Fourth Baronet on 8 February 1940 (although descendants of the Second and Third Baronet, through various female lines, are still living in New Zealand and Australia). The Fourth Baronet was a veteran of military service with the New Zealand armed forces during the First World War but unlike his predecessors, he had never felt comfortable with his aristocratic title, believing that it was an anachronism in a modern democratic society such as New Zealand's.
Early history of the family
The surname of Gibbes is of Norman origin. During the Middle AgesMiddle Ages
The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...
, the Gibbes family put down roots in a cluster of counties in England's West Country
West Country
The West Country is an informal term for the area of south western England roughly corresponding to the modern South West England government region. It is often defined to encompass the historic counties of Cornwall, Devon, Dorset and Somerset and the City of Bristol, while the counties of...
—namely, Devon
Devon
Devon is a large county in southwestern England. The county is sometimes referred to as Devonshire, although the term is rarely used inside the county itself as the county has never been officially "shired", it often indicates a traditional or historical context.The county shares borders with...
shire, Somerset
Somerset
The ceremonial and non-metropolitan county of Somerset in South West England borders Bristol and Gloucestershire to the north, Wiltshire to the east, Dorset to the south-east, and Devon to the south-west. It is partly bounded to the north and west by the Bristol Channel and the estuary of the...
and Dorset
Dorset
Dorset , is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The county town is Dorchester which is situated in the south. The Hampshire towns of Bournemouth and Christchurch joined the county with the reorganisation of local government in 1974...
—as well as settling in the Midlands
English Midlands
The Midlands, or the English Midlands, is the traditional name for the area comprising central England that broadly corresponds to the early medieval Kingdom of Mercia. It borders Southern England, Northern England, East Anglia and Wales. Its largest city is Birmingham, and it was an important...
' county of Warwickshire
Warwickshire
Warwickshire is a landlocked non-metropolitan county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, although the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare...
and the south-eastern county of Kent
Kent
Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...
. The standard British heraldic dictionaries show that members of the various county branches of the Gibbes family bore similar coats of arms. Their blazon
Blazon
In heraldry and heraldic vexillology, a blazon is a formal description of a coat of arms, flag or similar emblem, from which the reader can reconstruct the appropriate image...
s normally featured three battle-axes and the Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
motto Tenax Propositi (Firm of Purpose).
More specifically, the forebears of the Barbados baronets can be traced back to 14th-century Devonshire. Belonging to the landed gentry
Landed gentry
Landed gentry is a traditional British social class, consisting of land owners who could live entirely off rental income. Often they worked only in an administrative capacity looking after the management of their own lands....
, they intermarried with other propertied families and grew in importance during the reign of King Richard II of England
Richard II of England
Richard II was King of England, a member of the House of Plantagenet and the last of its main-line kings. He ruled from 1377 until he was deposed in 1399. Richard was a son of Edward, the Black Prince, and was born during the reign of his grandfather, Edward III...
. They possessed a semi-fortified stone manor house
Manor house
A manor house is a country house that historically formed the administrative centre of a manor, the lowest unit of territorial organisation in the feudal system in Europe. The term is applied to country houses that belonged to the gentry and other grand stately homes...
and barn complex named Venton and raised livestock near the edge of Dartmoor
Dartmoor
Dartmoor is an area of moorland in south Devon, England. Protected by National Park status, it covers .The granite upland dates from the Carboniferous period of geological history. The moorland is capped with many exposed granite hilltops known as tors, providing habitats for Dartmoor wildlife. The...
. The British Listed Buildings' Website (under listing NGR: SX7506460515 for Venton house) states that: "The Gibbes were notorious local insurgents, who maintained a small private army from about 1501 to 1549." During the Tudor era
Tudor period
The Tudor period usually refers to the period between 1485 and 1603, specifically in relation to the history of England. This coincides with the rule of the Tudor dynasty in England whose first monarch was Henry VII...
, members of the particular line of the Gibbes family that is the subject of this article left Devon for the neighbouring county of Somerset
Somerset
The ceremonial and non-metropolitan county of Somerset in South West England borders Bristol and Gloucestershire to the north, Wiltshire to the east, Dorset to the south-east, and Devon to the south-west. It is partly bounded to the north and west by the Bristol Channel and the estuary of the...
, and are recorded in official documents as possessing a considerable amount of property in and around the small northern Somersetshire town of Bedminster. (See Betham's Baronetage, cited below.) Nowadays, Bedminster is a heavily built up urban area but was in medieval times—prior to the town's sacking in the English Civil War
English Civil War
The English Civil War was a series of armed conflicts and political machinations between Parliamentarians and Royalists...
and the later onset of coal mining in the region—a fertile and well-watered farming area.
Before long, the Gibbes had expanded their interests outside of Bedminister, acquiring further property in the nearby trading port of Bristol
Bristol
Bristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, with an estimated population of 433,100 for the unitary authority in 2009, and a surrounding Larger Urban Zone with an estimated 1,070,000 residents in 2007...
, where they flourished as Merchant Venturers with links to the wool and cloth export industry and, later on, with the brewing industry as well. (After London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, Bristol was England's biggest medieval port and commercial hub.) One of the direct ancestors of the future baronets, Henry Gibbes (1563–1636), of Redcliffe
Redcliffe, Bristol
Redcliffe, also known as Redcliff, is a district of the English port city of Bristol, adjoining the city centre. It is bounded by the loop of the Floating Harbour to the west, north and east, the New Cut of the River Avon to the south...
Street, was a mayor
Mayor
In many countries, a Mayor is the highest ranking officer in the municipal government of a town or a large urban city....
of Bristol and an "alderman of the city". He married Anne Packer (1561-1631), of Cheltenham
Cheltenham
Cheltenham , also known as Cheltenham Spa, is a large spa town and borough in Gloucestershire, on the edge of the Cotswolds in the South-West region of England. It is the home of the flagship race of British steeplechase horse racing, the Gold Cup, the main event of the Cheltenham Festival held...
, and an engraved brass memorial commemorating them and their children can be seen in Bristol's Priory Church of St James (see the church's Website).
Twelve months before his death, an ailing Henry Gibbes had sent the youngest of his three sons, Philip, to the newly colonised West Indian island of Barbados to seek his fortune. He would be joined later on Barbados by some other members of his immediate family—as well as by representatives of the wider Gibbes clan from different parts of England, who were fleeing the social turmoil and the widespread property destruction and loss of life wrought in the 1640s by the English Civil War. Barbados was in those days a proprietary colony
Proprietary colony
A proprietary colony was a colony in which one or more individuals, usually land owners, remaining subject to their parent state's sanctions, retained rights that are today regarded as the privilege of the state, and in all cases eventually became so....
of Great Britain
Great Britain
Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...
. It became a refuge for the Royalist
Royalist
A royalist supports a particular monarch as head of state for a particular kingdom, or of a particular dynastic claim. In the abstract, this position is royalism. It is distinct from monarchism, which advocates a monarchical system of government, but not necessarily a particular monarch...
supporters of King Charles I of England during the war, which culminated in the execution of the king, the victory of the parliamentary forces under Oliver Cromwell
Oliver Cromwell
Oliver Cromwell was an English military and political leader who overthrew the English monarchy and temporarily turned England into a republican Commonwealth, and served as Lord Protector of England, Scotland, and Ireland....
, and the imposition of a Puritan
Puritan
The Puritans were a significant grouping of English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries. Puritanism in this sense was founded by some Marian exiles from the clergy shortly after the accession of Elizabeth I of England in 1558, as an activist movement within the Church of England...
Protectorate
Protectorate
In history, the term protectorate has two different meanings. In its earliest inception, which has been adopted by modern international law, it is an autonomous territory that is protected diplomatically or militarily against third parties by a stronger state or entity...
throughout Britain and her colonies which lasted from 1653 to 1659. (The British monarchy was restored in 1660 and Barbados was annexed by the Crown.)
Philip Gibbes was a supporter of the monarchy and a Cavalier
Cavalier
Cavalier was the name used by Parliamentarians for a Royalist supporter of King Charles I and son Charles II during the English Civil War, the Interregnum, and the Restoration...
by political and religious persuasion. He acquired land on Barbados' west coast and prospered through the propagation of sugarcane
Sugarcane
Sugarcane refers to any of six to 37 species of tall perennial grasses of the genus Saccharum . Native to the warm temperate to tropical regions of South Asia, they have stout, jointed, fibrous stalks that are rich in sugar, and measure two to six metres tall...
—an imported crop which thrived on the island. He died at his plantation in St James Parish of a tropical fever in 1648; but not before marrying a woman named Avis and founding an island dynasty that eventually led to his namesake great-grandson, Sir Philip Gibbes (the First Baronet)—among other male and female descendants. For details of their lineage, see the Gibbes pedigrees published in Burke's, Debrett's and Betham's baronetages cited below in the bibliography.
Like other wealthy Barbadian landowners of the 17th and 18th centuries, the Gibbes family made their money by harvesting and milling bulk loads of sugarcane that they grew on their plantations, using black slave labour, imported from Africa, to carry out this demanding work under the control of white overseers. They then shipped out the refined sugar for sale, at a healthy profit, on British markets. They also distilled and exported rum
Rum
Rum is a distilled alcoholic beverage made from sugarcane by-products such as molasses, or directly from sugarcane juice, by a process of fermentation and distillation. The distillate, a clear liquid, is then usually aged in oak barrels...
and participated in the notorious Triangular Trade
Triangular trade
Triangular trade, or triangle trade, is a historical term indicating among three ports or regions. Triangular trade usually evolves when a region has export commodities that are not required in the region from which its major imports come...
.
Unfortunately for them, however, a fall in the price of West Indian sugar during the 19th century—coupled with growing competition from other sugar producing regions of the world, the disruptive impact of the Napoleonic Wars, and the scrapping of the British slave trade in 1807 on humanitarian grounds—put an end to the so-called golden age of the Barbados "plantocracy". Despite this, landmarks along the western coastline of Barbados such as Gibbes Beach, Gibbes Bay and the village of Gibbes still commemorate the family's name. (For accounts of the economic and cultural influence of the sugar trade, see, [1], Bittersweet: The Story of Sugar by Peter Macinnis (Allen & Unwin, Sydney, 2002); and, [2], Sugar: The Grass that Changed the World by Sanjida O'Connell (Virgin Books Ltd, London, 2004).)
The genealogical & biographical sources used for this article
- William BethamWilliam Betham (antiquary)William Betham was an English clergyman and antiquary, known for his work on the baronetage.-Life:He was born at Little Strickland, near Morland, Westmoreland, on 17 May 1749. He was educated at the public school of Bampton, was ordained in 1773, apparently without graduating at a university, and...
's Baronetage, Volume III (London, 1803), under "Gibbes"; - Burke's Peerage and Baronetage (London, 1835, 1869 and other, subsequent editions), under "Gibbes";
- Debrett's Baronetage of England (London, 1835), under "Gibbes";
- Howard's Miscellanea and Genealogica et Heraldica, Volume I, Second Series, (London, 1886), under "Gibbes";
- The Journal of the Rev. John Wesley, Volume 4, 1773-1790 (Kershaw, London, 1827), online addition, accessed September 2010;
- New Zealand Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages, historical records, and the NSW Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages, historical records, online indices, accessed September 2010;
- The Papers of Charles Abbot, 1st Baron Colchester (1757–1829), held by The National Archives, Kew, London, PRO 30/9 — accessed from the National Archives (formerly known as The Public Record Office), October 1989. Among other items, this collection of papers contains an array of correspondence and other documents relating to the First and Second Osborne-Gibbes Baronets and their immediate families;
- The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, Volume 23, 1776-1777, published by Yale University Press (New Haven & London, no date), pp. 281–285;
- The Life and Times of Sir Samuel Osborne Gibbes, an article written by T.J. Bertram and published in journal 167 of the United Grand Masters' Lodge, Whangarei, New Zealand, Vol 29, Number 16, May 1993, pp. 226–240 – accessed from Whangarei District Library, July 1994; and
- Augustus Gibbes: Squire of Yarralumla, an article written by S.J.J. Gibbes and published in The Ancestral Searcher, Volume 19, Number 2, by The Heraldry & Genealogical Society of Canberra Inc, Narrabundah, Canberra, Australia, June, 1996, pp. 65–74.
A full list of the Osborne-Gibbes Baronets (created 1774)
- Sir Philip Gibbes, 1st Baronet (1731–1815);
- Sir Samuel Osborne-Gibbes, 2nd Baronet (1803–1874)—the grandson of the 1st Baronet and the orphaned son of Samuel Gibbes, of Barbados, and Sarah Gibbes (née Bishop, of the City of Exeter, Devonshire, England);
- Sir Edward Osborne-Gibbes, 3rd Baronet (1850–1931); and
- Sir Philip Arthur Osborne-Gibbes, 4th Baronet (1884–1940).
The Osborne-Gibbes coat of arms
Their coat of armsCoat of arms
A coat of arms is a unique heraldic design on a shield or escutcheon or on a surcoat or tabard used to cover and protect armour and to identify the wearer. Thus the term is often stated as "coat-armour", because it was anciently displayed on the front of a coat of cloth...
, registered with the College of Arms
College of Arms
The College of Arms, or Heralds’ College, is an office regulating heraldry and granting new armorial bearings for England, Wales and Northern Ireland...
in London and incorporating the Red Hand of Ulster
Red Hand of Ulster
The Red Hand of Ulster is a symbol used in heraldry to denote the Irish province of Ulster. It is less commonly known as the Red Hand of O'Neill. Its origins are said to be attributed to the mythical Irish figure Labraid Lámh Dhearg , and appear in other mythical tales passed down from generation...
(the baronets' badge), was as follows:
Shield: per fess argent and ermine, three battle-axes in pale sable. Crest: an arm embowed in steel armour, garnished or, and charged with a cross couped gules, the hand in a gauntlet grasping a battle-axe as in the arms. Motto: Tenax Propositi. (Source: Debrett's Baronetage of England (London, 1835), under "Gibbes", online edition, accessed September 2010.)
Originally, the Gibbes family's arms consisted of three vertical "Danish axes" depicted on an argent field; but due to the evolution of weaponry, the devices shown on the shield were changed over time from Viking
Viking
The term Viking is customarily used to refer to the Norse explorers, warriors, merchants, and pirates who raided, traded, explored and settled in wide areas of Europe, Asia and the North Atlantic islands from the late 8th to the mid-11th century.These Norsemen used their famed longships to...
-style battle axe
Battle axe
A battle axe is an axe specifically designed for combat. Battle axes were specialized versions of utility axes...
s to their more ornate late-medieval equivalents.