Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 21.djvu/253

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Christ,’ a sermon against William Dalgliesh of Peebles [q. v.], Edinburgh, 1777. 10. ‘Vindiciæ Dominicæ, a Defence of the Reformation-standards of the Church of Scotland concerning the Administration of the Lord's Supper and the One Sonship of Jesus Christ’ [anon.], Edinburgh, 1780. 11. ‘A Display of the Fraudulent and Gross Abuses committed upon the Secession-testimony’ [anon.], Edinburgh, 1780. 12. ‘Kαινἀ καὶ Παlαιά: Sacred Contemplation in three parts: I. A View of the Covenant of Works; II. A View of the Covenant of Grace; III. A View of the Absolute and Immediate Dependence of all things on God,’ Edinburgh, 1786.

[M'Kerrow's Hist. Secession Church; M'Kelvie's Annals and Statistics of the United Presbyterian Church; Chambers's Eminent Scotsmen; Anderson's Scottish Nation; Scots Mag. vol. xxvii.; Walker's Theology and Theologians of Scotland.]

W. G. B.


GIBB, FREDERICK (d. 1681), miscellaneous writer, son of Bernard Gibb, advocate, was born at Dunfermline, studied medicine, and took, 9 Sept. 1651, the degree of doctor at the university of Valence. He spent his life abroad. He died 27 March 1681.

Gibb, who adopted occasionally the name of Philalethes, wrote some unimportant works, among which some verses, contributed to a volume of de Thou, published by Daniel Elzevier in 1678, and an harangue made in 1679 in praise of the hog, and dedicated to François Gaverol, a famous lawyer of Nismes, seem most worthy of note. Gibb's grandson Jean Frederic Guib (as the name came to be spelt), is mentioned as having written some remarkable criticisms of parts of Bayle's Dictionary.

[Michel's Les Écossais en France, ii. 422.]

F. W-t.


GIBB, JOHN (1776–1850), civil engineer and contractor, was born at Kirkcows, near Falkirk, a small property belonging to his father, a contractor, in 1776. The elder Gibb having died when John was only twelve, the son served an apprenticeship to a mechanical trade. After this he was employed as contractor's assistant, and later as subordinate engineer by his brother, then serving under John Rennie on the construction of the Lancaster and Preston canal. He afterwards went to Leith, being engaged by his father-in-law, Mr. Easton, in the making of the docks there. Commencing practice on his own account as a contractor, he gradually established a reputation for professional skill. He was employed in the construction of Greenock harbour under Rennie, where Telford's attention was drawn to his exceptional ability and great managerial tact. Telford engaged him as resident engineer at the Aberdeen harbour works. Gibb removed thither in 1809, and superintended the erection of extensive piers and other details. He executed many commissions with credit under Telford, Rennie, Robert Stephenson (of Edinburgh), and Sir William Cubitt; chief among his labours being the repair of the Crinan canal in 1817, various harbours on the east coast of Scotland, the great Glasgow and Carlisle turnpike road (which involved stone bridges of extensive span, such as that of Cartland Craigs, near Lanark, over the glen of the Mouse), various lighthouses, the Dean road bridge, near Edinburgh, several railway viaducts, and the famous Glasgow bridge, the lowest over the Clyde, and a model of its class, which was designed by Telford and completed by Gibb and his son. Gibb's special eminence lay in operations connected with harbour construction and river engineering. He died at Aberdeen on 3 Dec. 1850, being at the time one of the oldest members of the Institute of Civil Engineers.

[Thomson's Eminent Scotsmen; Anderson's Scottish Nation.]

J. B-y.


GIBB, ROBERT (d. 1837), landscape-painter, a native of Dundee, was an associate of the Royal Institution, Edinburgh, and contributed to the exhibitions of that body from 1822 to 1830. He was an original associate of the Scottish Academy, became a full member in July 1829, and contributed to its exhibitions from 1830 to 1834. His works, which are chiefly landscapes, though he occasionally produced figure-pictures, are carefully handled and show considerable feeling for nature. He is represented in the National Gallery of Scotland by views of ‘Borthwick Castle’ and ‘Craigmillar Castle.’ He died, at an early age, in 1837. (He is to be distinguished from Robert Gibb, portrait and figure painter, who was elected A.R.S.A. in 1878 and R.S.A. in 1882.)

[Harvey's Notes on the Early History of the Royal Scottish Academy; Catalogues of the Royal Institution, Edinburgh, Royal Scottish Academy, and National Gallery of Scotland.]

J. M. G.


GIBBES, CHARLES, D.D. (1604–1681), divine, sixth son of Sir Ralph Gibbes, who was knighted at Whitehall in 1603, was born at Honington, Warwickshire, in 1604, matriculated from Magdalen Hall, Oxford, 26 June 1621, graduated B.A. 20 Feb. 1622–3. He was elected in 1624 probationer-fellow of Merton College, where, Wood tells us, he became ‘a noted disputant, orator, and quaint preacher.’ He proceeded M.A. on 25 June 1628, and in April 1638 was presented to the rectory of Gamlingay, Cambridgeshire, which he held until 1647, when he resigned it in anticipation of sequestration, being a zealous royalist. He appears also to have held about the same time the prebend of Combe Octava in the church of Wells. During the interregnum