at the same time most ably advocated throughout the country by John Francis [q. v.] The last of these taxes was repealed 1 Oct. 1861, and Gibson's great services were recognised by a public testimonial consisting of a centrepiece and two candelabra, which were presented to him 4 Feb. 1862 (Illustrated London News, 15 Feb. 1862, pp. 162, 176, with woodcuts of the plate). Sampson's ‘History of Advertising,’ 1875, is dedicated to him ‘in recognition of the service he rendered to advertising and journalism.’ Gibson retired from office with a pension of 2,000l. a year, and thenceforth spent his time either at his country residence, Theberton House, Suffolk, or in yachting in the Mediterranean. He was one of the best known amateur yachtsmen of his day, able to navigate his own ship, and at the time of his death was the senior member of the Royal Yacht Squadron. It is curious that he was the last person who cruised in the Mediterranean with a free pass from the dey of Algiers, 1830, and this fact is commemorated on a tablet in the English church there. His knowledge of nautical affairs made him a useful elder brother of the Trinity House, while after his retirement until his death he was one of the most diligent of the public works loan commissioners. He was a J.P. and D.L. for Suffolk, and on 7 Feb. 1839 had by royal license assumed the additional surname of Milner before that of Gibson, in order to testify his respect for the memory of Robert Milner of Ipswich. He died on board his yacht, the Resolute, at Algiers on 25 Feb. 1884, and was buried in Theberton churchyard 13 March (Bury Free Press, March 1884). On the day of his funeral a graceful tribute to his memory was published in the ‘Times’ by Sir T. H. Farrer, permanent secretary of the board of trade, in the name of those who served under him. ‘Many an opposition was disarmed,’ he wrote, ‘and many a struggle in the house or on the platform anticipated and avoided, by the patient good temper with which, in the smoking-room or the lobby, he would discuss while appearing to gossip and lead while appearing to listen. … To us it seemed that the public business of our department never received greater attention than when it was in his hands.’ His portrait in oils by James Holmes, engraved by W. Holl, and dedicated to the members of the Reform Club, is in the possession of Jasper Milner-Gibson, esq., and his portrait in water-colours by C. A. Du Val, engraved by S. W. Reynolds, belongs to Gery Milner-Gibson-Cullum, esq.
There is no record of Gibson having been an author, but the following works refer to his public career: 1. ‘Malt Tax: a Letter to the Members of the House of Commons by J. Fielden, exposing the misstatements of Mr. Milner Gibson,’ 1865. 2. ‘Railways, in a Letter to the President of the Board of Trade: a Plan for the Reform of the Railways of the United Kingdom,’ 1865.
He married, 23 Feb. 1832, Susanna Arethusa, only child of the Rev. Sir Thomas Gery Cullum, bart., of Hardwick House, Suffolk, and granddaughter of Sir T. G. Cullum [q. v.] She was born at Southgate Green, Bury St. Edmunds, 11 Jan. 1814, and was for many years a leader in society, and an advocate of mesmerism and spiritualism when those sciences were in their infancy. Her political and literary salon was opened to many distinguished exiles, Napoleon, Mazzini, Victor Hugo, Louis Blanc, and others, as well as to the leading English literary celebrities, especially Dickens, to one of whose sons she stood sponsor. An account of her salon is to be found in Edmund Yates's ‘Recollections,’ i. 252–3 (1884), and again in Mrs. Lynn Linton's curious ‘Autobiography of Christopher Kirkland’ (1885), ii. 15 et seq. Latterly she became a Roman catholic, and died at 11 Avenue du Bois de Boulogne, Paris, 23 Feb. 1885, aged 71, and was buried in the cemetery, Bury St. Edmunds, 3 March (Bury and Norwich Post, 3 March 1885). By her husband she had a large family, of whom only two survived, Jasper Milner-Gibson of Theberton House, and Gery Milner-Gibson-Cullum of Hardwick House, both in Suffolk.
[Francis's Orators of the Age, 1847, pp. 294–300; Evans's Lancashire Authors and Orators, 1850, pp. 101–5; Illustrated News of the World, 6 March 1858, p. 76, with portrait; Grant's Newspaper Press, 1871, ii. 299, 311–19; Nicoll's Great Movements, 1881, pp. 268–331, with portrait; Illustrated London News, 27 Feb. 1858, p. 207, 31 Dec. 1842, p. 541, with portrait, and 8 March 1884, pp. 217, 227, with portrait; Graphic, 15 March 1884, pp. 249–50, with portrait; Times, 26 Feb. 1884, p. 10, and 13 March, p. 4; information from Gery Milner-Gibson-Cullum, esq., Hardwick House, Bury St. Edmunds; Morley's Life of Cobden; J. G. Francis's John Francis, 1888; Men of the Time, 11th ed. pp. 168, 457; Anecdotal Photographs in Truth, 12 May 1881.]
GIBSON, WILLIAM (fl. 1540), lord of session, was the second son of Thomas Gibson of Durie in Fifeshire, who lived in the reign of James IV of Scotland. He was educated for the church at the university of Glasgow, where he was incorporated in 1503 and graduated in December 1507. He afterwards became vicar of Garvock, Kincardineshire, and in 1518, when present at a meeting of the Glasgow University council, was designated rector of Inverarity Forfarshire.
