Sir George Stegmann Gibb (30 April 1850 – 17 December 1925) was a Scottish transport administrator who served as the general manager of the North Eastern Railway, managing director of the

Underground Electric Railways Company of London The Underground Electric Railways Company of London Limited (UERL), known operationally as the Underground for much of its existence, was established in 1902. It was the holding company for the three deep-level "tube"A "tube" railway is an und ...

, and as chairman of the former British Road Board.

Early life

George Gibb was born in Aberdeen, the son of engineer Alexander Gibb (1804–1867) and the former Margaret Smith and grandson of

civil engineer A civil engineer is a person who practices civil engineering – the application of planning, designing, constructing, maintaining, and operating infrastructure while protecting the public and environmental health, as well as improving existing ...

John Gibb (1776–1850). Gibb attended

Aberdeen Grammar School Aberdeen Grammar School is a state secondary school in Aberdeen, Scotland. It is one of thirteen secondary schools run by the Aberdeen City Council educational department. It is the oldest school in the city and one of the oldest grammar school ...

and the

University of Aberdeen The University of Aberdeen ( sco, University o' 'Aiberdeen; abbreviated as ''Aberd.'' in List of post-nominal letters (United Kingdom), post-nominals; gd, Oilthigh Obar Dheathain) is a public university, public research university in Aberdeen, Sc ...

before taking a law degree at the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...

. After spending time working in shipping and

marine insurance Marine insurance covers the physical loss or damage of ships, cargo, terminals, and any transport by which the property is transferred, acquired, or held between the points of origin and the final destination. Cargo insurance is the sub-branch o ...

, he was

articled Apprenticeship is a system for training a new generation of practitioners of a trade or profession with on-the-job training and often some accompanying study (classroom work and reading). Apprenticeships can also enable practitioners to gain a ...

to a solicitor in 1872. He worked in the solicitor's office of the

Great Western Railway The Great Western Railway (GWR) was a British railway company that linked London with the southwest, west and West Midlands of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament on 31 August 1835 and ran ...

for three years from 1877 to 1880 before setting up his own practice in London. In 1881, he married Dorothea Garrett Smith. The couple had four sons and one daughter.

Transport administrator

In 1882, Gibb joined the North Eastern Railway (NER) as a solicitor and was soon acting as assistant to general manager Henry Tennant. In 1891, he succeeded Tennant as general manager, taking charge at a difficult time for the railway industry. The railway companies were facing twin pressures from parliament passing legislation to control transport rates and working hours and from expanding

trade union A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits ( ...

s. Gibb improved the running of the NER by introducing new management methods and recruiting able apprentice managers directly from universities and business. Among those he recruited were future transport industry leaders Ralph Wedgewood,

Eric Geddes Sir Eric Campbell Geddes (26 September 1875 – 22 June 1937) was a Great Britain, British businessman and Conservative Party (UK), Conservative politician. With a background in railways, he served as head of Military Transportation on the ...

and

Frank Pick Frank Pick Hon. RIBA (23 November 1878 – 7 November 1941) was a British transport administrator. After qualifying as a solicitor in 1902, he worked at the North Eastern Railway, before moving to the Underground Electric Railways Compan ...

. At the start of the 20th century he visited the United States to study American transport management methods and restructured the NER's organisation. He established a statistics office to collect data on the all of the company's operations. The greatly increased efficiencies that this provided enabled the company to improve its income and led to its methods being copied by many other railway companies. Gibb was also innovative in his dealings with the unions; introducing

collective bargaining Collective bargaining is a process of negotiation between employers and a group of employees aimed at agreements to regulate working salaries, working conditions, benefits, and other aspects of workers' compensation and rights for workers. The i ...

into his negotiations and using independent

arbitration Arbitration is a form of alternative dispute resolution (ADR) that resolves disputes outside the judiciary courts. The dispute will be decided by one or more persons (the 'arbitrators', 'arbiters' or 'arbitral tribunal'), which renders the ' ...

to settle disputes. In 1906, he became managing director and deputy chairman of the

(UERL), holding company of four underground lines in the capital. The UERL was struggling under a heavy burden of debt incurred to construct three of the lines and electrify the fourth. With income significantly lower than expected, the UERL was close to bankruptcy. Working under chairman

Edgar Speyer Sir Edgar Speyer, 1st Baronet (7 September 1862 – 16 February 1932) was an American-born financier and philanthropist. Barker 2004. He became a British subject in 1892 and was chairman of Speyer Brothers, the British branch of the Speyer fami ...

and recruiting future chairman

Albert Stanley Albert Stanley may refer to: * Albert Stanley (Liberal politician) (1863–1915), British Member of Parliament, 1907–1915 * Albert Stanley, 1st Baron Ashfield (1874–1948), British Conservative MP, Managing Director & Chairman ...

from America as general manager, Gibb helped reorganise the group of companies and stave off bankruptcy. In 1910, Gibb retired from the UERL to become chairman of the government's new Road Board, tasked with improving Britain's road system. The appointment of a railway specialist as chairman was controversial, Gibb clashed repeatedly with Board secretary William Rees Jeffreys and was criticised for allocating 90 per cent of the Road Board's funds to the improvement of existing roads rather than the construction of new

arterial road An arterial road or arterial thoroughfare is a high-capacity urban road that sits below freeways/motorways on the road hierarchy in terms of traffic flow and speed. The primary function of an arterial road is to deliver traffic from collector ro ...

s, a move seen as delaying competition for the railways, although the delay was to allow research into road building methods. The Road Board was abolished in 1919 when the

Ministry of Transport A ministry of transport or transportation is a ministry responsible for transportation within a country. It usually is administered by the ''minister for transport''. The term is also sometimes applied to the departments or other government age ...

was created. Between 1919 and 1922 he acted as a consultant to the NER, advising the company on the coming amalgamation of Britain's railways under the

Grouping Act The Railways Act 1921 (c. 55), also known as the Grouping Act, was an Act of Parliament enacted by the British government and intended to stem the losses being made by many of the country's 120 railway companies, by "grouping" them into four la ...

. Gibb died at his home in

Wimbledon Wimbledon most often refers to: * Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London * Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships Wimbledon may also refer to: Places London * ...

Other activities

In 1901, Gibb served on the committee that considered the reorganisation of the

War Office The War Office was a department of the British Government responsible for the administration of the British Army between 1857 and 1964, when its functions were transferred to the new Ministry of Defence (MoD). This article contains text from ...

and was a member of the

Royal Commission on London Traffic The Royal Commission on London Traffic was a Royal commission established in 1903 with a remit to review and report on how transport systems should be developed for London and the surrounding area. It produced a report in eight volumes published ...

from 1903 to 1905. For the latter service he was granted a

knighthood A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood finds origins in the Gr ...

in 1904. During the First World War, he served on the Army council and was a member of the Government Arbitration Board Committee on Production from 1915 to 1918. At the end of his life he was briefly chairman of the

Oriental Telephone Company The Oriental Telephone Company was established on January 25, 1881, as the result of an agreement between Thomas Edison, Alexander Graham Bell, the Oriental Bell Telephone Company of New York and the Anglo-Indian Telephone Company, Ltd. The company ...

Notes and references

Notes

References

Bibliography

* * * * *

External links

London Transport Museum Photographic Archive
** {{DEFAULTSORT:Gibb, George 1850 births 1925 deaths People from Aberdeen People educated at Aberdeen Grammar School Alumni of the University of Aberdeen Alumni of the University of London People associated with transport in London North Eastern Railway (UK) people History of the London Underground Knights Bachelor