Date of Birth: 30/03/1787
Place of Birth: London, England
Date of Death: 05/12/1873
Place of Death: 'Yarralumla' near Queanbeyan, New South Wales later the Australian Capital Territory, Australia
Parliamentary Service
| Member of the NSW Legislative Council |
08 Dec 1848 |
01 May 1855 |
6 years 4 months 24 days |
A Non-Elective Member of the first Legislative Council 1843 – 1856 |
| Member of the NSW Legislative Council |
30 May 1834 |
05 Jan 1843 |
8 years 7 months 7 days |
An Appointed Member of the first Legislative Council 1824 - 1843 |
| Collector of Customs |
01 May 1834 |
09 May 1859 |
25 years 9 days |
|
Qualifications, occupations and interests
Soldier; public servant. Educated at the Merchant Taylors' School in the City of London and the privately in North Wales, prior to his entering the army in 1804. In 1819 he accepted the post of collector of customs at Falmouth in Jamaica and stayed there until 1827 when he transferred to the post of collector of customs at Great Yarmouth in England. He held this post until 1833 when he exchanged with Michael Cullen Cotton (also a Member of the first Council), the collector of customs in New South Wales.
Military Service
Entered the British Army as an ensign in the 40th Regiment in 1804; became a lieutenant in 1805; Captain in the 4th Garrison Battalion; went to South America and saw action at Montevideo and Buenos Aires; returned to England and became aide-de-camp to the Earl of Craven in 1806;
Deputy-adjutant-general in the 55th Regiment; was part of the disastrous expedition to Walcheren; suffering severely from fever, he returned to England before the campaign ended and went on half-pay. He was then appointed brigade major in the Malta Regiment and served in England from 1809 until 1819. In the years immediately prior to his entering the Customs Service in 1819, he served under Lord Strafford, the commander of England's Northern Military District. Promoted to lieutenant-colonel (while in New South Wales) in 1837; and promoted to full Colonel in 1851.He retired from the British Army on 11 November 1851.
Membership of other Parliaments & Offices Held
Local Government Activity
Personal
Son of John Gibbes, planter of Barbados and later of London. Married Elizabeth ("Eliza") Davis in 1814 at St Andrew's Church, Holborn, London; and they had 4 daughters and 4 sons. His daughter Mary Gibbes married Terence Aubrey Murray, a Member of the first Legislative Council and (after responsible government in 1856) both the Legislative Council and the Legislative Assembly: Murray was also both Speaker and President. His son William Gibbes married Harriet Jamison, daughter of Sir John Jamison, also a member of the first Legislative Council. His grandson, F. J. Gibbes, was also a Member of the Legislative Assembly.
Additional Information
Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 1
Obituary in the 'Queanbeyan Age', 25 December 1873 (an identical obituary
appeared in the 'Goulburn Herald', 27 December 1873).
