Dictionary of National Biography, 1912 supplement/Gibbins, Henry de Beltgens
GIBBINS, HENRY DE BELTGENS (1865–1907), writer on economic history, born at Port Elizabeth, Cape Colony, on 23 May 1865, was eldest son of Joseph Henry Gibbins of Port Elizabeth, South Africa, by his wife Eleanor, daughter of the Hon. J. de Beltgens of Stanford, Dominica. Educated at Bradford grammar school, he won a scholarship at Wadham College, Oxford, in 1883, and obtained a second class in classical moderations in 1885, and a second class also in the final classical schools in 1887. He graduated B.A. in the following year. In 1890 he won the Cobden prize for an economic essay in the University of Oxford, and in 1896 received the degree of D.Litt. at Dublin.
From 1889 to 1895 he worked as assistant master at the Nottingham high school. In 1891 he was ordained deacon and in 1892 priest, serving the curacy of St. Matthew's, Nottingham, from 1891 to 1893. From 1895 to 1899 he was vice-principal of Liverpool College; from 1899 to 1906 headmaster of King Charles I school at Kidderminster; in 1906 he was made principal of Lennoxville University in Canada. Ill-health obliged him to leave Canada after a short stay. On 13 Aug. 1907 he was killed by a fall from the train in the Thackley tunnel between Leeds and Bradford. He married Emily, third daughter of Dr. J. H. Bell of Bradford, by whom he had one daughter.
Gibbins devoted himself to economic study from his Oxford days and published:
- ‘Industrial History of England,’ 1890.
- ‘The History of Commerce in Europe,’ 1891, 2nd edit. 1897.
- ‘English Social Reformers,’ 1892, 2nd edit. 1902.
- ‘British Commerce and Colonies,’ 1893, 4th edit. 1909.
- ‘Economics of Commerce,’ 1894, Spanish trans. 1903.
- ‘Industry in England,’ 1896.
- ‘The English People in the Nineteenth Century,’ 1898; 2nd edit. 1900; Russian trans. 1901.
- ‘Economic and Industrial Progress of the Century,’ 1901.
He was a contributor to Palgrave's ‘Dictionary of Political Economy’ and edited for Messrs. Methuen their ‘Social Questions of the Day’ series (1891) and also their ‘Commercial’ series (1893). His economic work popularly illustrated the historical methods of economic study.
[The Times, 14 Aug. 1907; Foster's Alumni Oxon.; private information.]