Francis Gibson (1805-1858), was a British banker and businessman.

Early life

He was born in Saffron Walden, Essex, the son of the banker

Atkinson Francis Gibson Atkinson Francis Gibson (20 November 1763 – 22 January 1829) was a British banker. Early life He was born in Saffron Walden, Essex, on 20 November 1763, the son of George Gibson and Elizabeth Robinson. Career He ran the Saffron Walden and North ...

(1763-1829).

Career

Soon after his marriage, Gibson became a director of the

Stockton and Darlington Railway The Stockton and Darlington Railway (S&DR) was a railway company that operated in north-east England from 1825 to 1863. The world's first public railway to use steam locomotives, its first line connected collieries near Shildon with Darl ...

. Soon afterwards, he was one of the four Quaker founders of

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ) is a town on the southern bank of the River Tees in North Yorkshire, England. It is near the North York Moors national park. It is the namesake and main town of its local borough council area. Until the early 1800s, the a ...

. Although still base in Saffron Walden, Gibson and his wife spent two months every summer in County Durham and bought a house there, Balder Grange, in 1843. The Victorian house is close to

Cotherstone Cotherstone is a village and civil parish in the Pennine hills, in Teesdale, County Durham, England. Cotherstone lies within the historic county boundaries of the North Riding of Yorkshire, but along with the rest of the former Startforth Rura ...

and overlooks the

River Balder The Balder is an English river that rises on the eastern slope of Stainmore Common in the Pennine Chain and flows eastwards for about 13 miles (21 km) to the River Tees at Cotherstone. The River Balder is in County Durham. The head of the ...

Personal life

On 7 May 1829, he married Elizabeth Pease, the youngest daughter of Edward Pease, "the father of the railways". He enjoyed painting and, late in life, he built the

Fry Art Gallery The Fry Art Gallery is an art gallery in Saffron Walden, Essex. Recognised as an Accredited Museum by Arts Council England, it displays work by artists of national significance who lived or worked in North West Essex during the twentieth centu ...

(1856), in Saffron Walden.Cook, O. (2012). The Fry Art Gallery. In ''Artists at the Fry: Art and design in the North West Essex Collection'' (pp. 7-14). Saffron Walden, Essex: The Fry Art Gallery. They had two children: *Elizabeth Pease Gibson (1830-1870). She married the Quaker lawyer, politician and philanthropist

Lewis Fry Lewis Fry (16 April 1832 – 10 September 1921) was a Quaker, lawyer, philanthropist and a Liberal and later Liberal and Unionist politician who sat in the House of Commons in three spells between 1878 and 1900. Early life Fry was the son of ...

(1832-1921) *Francis Edward Gibson (1831-1862). He died of apoplexy in Florence, Italy.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gibson, Francis 1805 births 1858 deaths British bankers British Quakers

Francis Francis may refer to: People *Pope Francis, the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State and Bishop of Rome *Francis (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters *Francis (surname) Places * Rural M ...

People from Saffron Walden 19th-century British businesspeople