John Watson Gibson

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Sir
John Watson Gibson
OBE
Born9 August 1885
Middlesbrough, Yorkshire
Died19 March 1947 (aged 61)
London, England
NationalityEnglish
CitizenshipUnited Kingdom
EducationMiddlesbrough School for Boys
SpouseLilian
Engineering career
ProjectsQueen Mary Reservoir
Sennar Dam
Jebel Aulia Dam
Significant designPhoenix breakwaters
BISF house
Significant advancePhoenix breakwaters

Sir John Watson Gibson

OBE (9 August 1885 – 19 March 1947) was an English civil engineer. He designed dams in England and in Anglo-Egyptian Sudan and port installations in England and Ireland. In the UK he is most notable for having designed a key part of the Mulberry harbours for the 1944 Normandy landings.[1][2]

Biography

Early life and career

Gibson was born in

jetties at the docks in Southampton, Fenit in Ireland for access to Tralee, and the new King George Dock in Kingston upon Hull.[1]

First World War

Having what was designated an essential skill, Gibson was refused permission to serve in combat with the

Officer of the British Empire (OBE) in 1918.[1]

1918–1939

Stanwell Place, Gibson's home in Middlesex

After the war Gibson specialised in

reservoirs and water supply. In the 1920s he designed the Queen Mary Reservoir at Stanwell, Middlesex, which when completed in 1925 the largest water storage reservoir in the World. While working there he bought Stanwell Place, which came with 90 acres (36 ha) of land, and the adjoining Stanhope and Hammonds farms, which between them totalled 261 acres (106 ha).[1]

Gibson's estate totalled 346 acres (140 ha) when in 1936 the

Metropolitan Water Board bought most of it[3] to build the King George VI Reservoir.[1]

Gibson was Pearson's site agent for the Sennar Dam in Sudan.[4] In 1933 he entered into partnership with Pauling & Co.,[5] forming Gibson and Pauling (Foreign) Ltd in 1933 to build the Jebel Aulia Dam on the White Nile, also in Sudan, which was the largest dam in the world at that time.[1] After completing the Jebel Aulia Dam, Gibson became managing director of Pauling & Co, a position he held until his death in March 1947.

Second World War

At the outbreak of the

Ernest King.[1]

After the agreement to proceed with a design for the Mulberry harbours for the 1944 Normandy landings, Gibson created the detailed design for the Phoenix breakwaters.[1] Under the direction of Major General Sir Harold Augustus Wernher, Gibson oversaw the fabrication of the Concrete Phoenix Caissons across Southern England and created the special 'Winterization' process to safeguard the breakwaters during the winter of 1944.

Post-war career

After the war Gibson decided due to his age to change his professional focus, designing in collaboration with the British Iron and Steel Federation, two prototype steel framed prefab houses to house families made homeless by enemy action. Eventually more than 30,000 BISF houses were built.[1]

Grave of Sir John Watson Gibson and Lady Lilian

Death and burial

Gibson died aged 61 in 1947 and is buried in Stanwell Burial Ground.

Faisal II of Iraq. In 1956 Faisal II still owned Stanwell Place and Gibson's sons still owned the residual 17 acres (7 ha) of Stanhope farm.[3]

Gibson's widow Lady Lilian died in 1962 and is buried with him.[1]

Legacy

In 2015, the Happy Landing pub in Clare Road, Stanwell was renamed the "Sir John Gibson".[6]

References

  1. ^
    Spelthorne Borough Council. December 2003.[page needed
    ]
  2. ^ "Obituary: Sir John Gibson – The Mulberry Harbours". The Times. 21 March 1947. p. 7.
  3. ^ a b Reynolds 1962, pp. 36–41.
  4. ^ "The Sennar Dam and the Gezira Irrigation Scheme" (PDF). The Engineer. 26 September 1924. Retrieved 4 January 2015.[page needed]
  5. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/33391. (Subscription or UK public library membership
    required.)
  6. ^ "Sir John Gibson, Stanwell". What Pub?. Campaign for Real Ale. Retrieved 6 March 2016.

Sources

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