Vicary Gibbs (St Albans MP)

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Gibbs in 1895.

Vicary Gibbs (12 May 1853 – 13 January 1932)[1] was a British barrister, merchant and Conservative Party politician. He sat in the House of Commons from 1892 to 1904. He lost his seat after his business created a conflict of interest. He was the editor of the early volumes of The Complete Peerage (second edition).

Early life and family

Gibbs came from an old Devon family.[2] He was the third son of Hucks Gibbs, 1st Baron Aldenham (1819–1907), and his wife Louisa Anne, daughter of William Adams.[3]

Alban Gibbs, 2nd Baron Aldenham, and Herbert Gibbs, 1st Baron Hunsdon of Hunsdon, were his brothers, while George Edward Cokayne was his great-uncle. His great-grandfather was Antony Gibbs, brother of Sir Vicary Gibbs who became Chief Justice of the Common Pleas.[2]

He was educated at

called to the bar at Lincoln's Inn in 1880, and became a partner in the merchant and banking firm Antony Gibbs & Sons.[3]

Political career

At the 1892 general election he was returned to Parliament for St Albans division of Hertfordshire.[4]

He was returned unopposed in

Admiralty of two warships which had been built in England for the Chilean Navy, to avoid them being sold to a rival power when Chile did not complete the purchase.[7]
However, in so doing he was disqualified from the House of Commons, under provisions which debarred MPs from accepting contracts from
Chiltern Hundreds, and then present himself for re-election.[7] Both Gibbs and the Liberal Party candidate John Bamford Slack were by then campaigning in the constituency,[8]
but The Times newspaper reported on 20 January that the by-election was unlikely to be contested by the Liberals.[9] However, since Gibbs was already disqualified, he did not need to take the usual step of disqualifying himself by taking the Chiltern Hundreds, and in a letter of 1 February 1904 he informed the
George III, vacated my seat in Parliament".[6]

His letter was read to the Commons on 2 February,[6] and the writ was moved the following day.[10]

In the meantime, the Liberals had decided to contest the seat, and at a meeting on 24 January they had adopted Slack as their candidate.[11]

At the resulting by-election on 12 February 1904, Slack won the seat with a majority of 132 votes (1.4% of the total).[5] At the

tariff reformer,[13]
but never returned to the Commons. He was a member of the Tariff Commission[14] and of the Council of the Industrial Freedom League, an organisation which opposed the involvement of the state and municipalities in trading companies.[15]

After politics

Gibbs was also a

Justice of the Peace for Hertfordshire,[3] and the first co-editor of the second edition of The Complete Peerage; published beginning in 1910. While he retired well before it completed publication, his extensive notes are represented throughout the volumes.[2] He was a director of numerous companies, and the chairman of National Provident Institution.[16][17]

At his seat

FRHS,[18]
including a first prize at the Franco-British Exhibition in 1908.[19]

He was a member of the Athenaeum Club and the Carlton Club.[20]

Death

In January 1932 Gibbs died aged 78 at his London home in Upper Belgrave Street; he never married,[2] and most of his huge plant collection at Aldenham was auctioned by Sotheby's in October that year.[21]

See also

The standard author abbreviation V.Gibbs is used to indicate this person as the author when citing a botanical name.[22]

References

  1. ^ Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "S" (part 1)
  2. ^ a b c d e f "Mr. Vicary Gibbs "The Complete Peerage"". The Times. London. 14 January 1932. p. 14, col D. Retrieved 6 February 2011. (subscription required)
  3. ^ a b c d Debrett's House of Commons and the Judicial Bench 1922. London: Dean & Son. 1901. p. 54.
  4. ^ "No. 26311". The London Gazette. 29 July 1892. p. 4307.
  5. ^
    ISBN 0-900178-27-2
    .
  6. ^
    William Gully, Speaker (2 February 1904). "New Writs". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). House of Commons. col. 74–75.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link
    )
  7. ^ a b "Election Intelligence". The Times. London. 19 January 1904. p. 4, col C. Retrieved 6 February 2011. (subscription required)
  8. ^ "Election Intelligence". The Times. London. 18 January 1904. p. 10, col A. Retrieved 6 February 2011. (subscription required)
  9. ^ "Election Intelligence". The Times. London. 20 January 1904. p. 7, col B. Retrieved 6 February 2011. (subscription required)
  10. ^ "House of Commons., Wednesday, Feb. 3". The Times. London. 4 February 1904. p. 7, col A. Retrieved 6 February 2011.
  11. ^ "Election Intelligence". The Times. London. 25 January 1904. p. 8, col E. Retrieved 6 February 2011. (subscription required)
  12. ^ Craig, page 79
  13. ^ "Election Intelligence". The Times. London. 22 December 1905. p. 10, col C. Retrieved 6 February 2011. (subscription required)
  14. ^ "Tariff Commission". The Times. London. 5 May 1906. p. 5, col D. Retrieved 6 February 2011. (subscription required)
  15. ^ "The London County Council Elections". The Times. London. 18 February 1907. p. 11, col D. Retrieved 6 February 2011. (subscription required)
  16. ^ "National Provident Institution". The Times. London. 27 February 1909. p. 17, col A. Retrieved 6 February 2011. (subscription required)
  17. ^ "Public Companies". The Times. London. 26 February 1910. p. 18, col B. Retrieved 6 February 2011. (subscription required)
  18. ^ The Times (14 January 1909). "Court Circular". London. p. 11, col A. Retrieved 6 February 2011. (subscription required)
  19. ^ "Horticulture at the Franco-British Exhibition". The Times. London. 1 October 1908. p. 11, col D. Retrieved 6 February 2011. (subscription required)
  20. ^ "Gibbs, Hon. Vicary". Who's Who: 1012. 1921.
  21. ^ Harrison, H. (2012). Plant hunting for Borde Hill. The Plantsman, June 2012,  p.93. [1]
  22. ^ International Plant Names Index.  V.Gibbs.

External links

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Member of Parliament for St Albans
1892–1904 		Succeeded by
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