The Hon Robert Gibson, Lord Gibson

FRSE Fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE) is an award granted to individuals that the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Scotland's national academy of science and letters, judged to be "eminently distinguished in their subject". This soci ...

(20 April 1886 – 9 April 1965) was a Scottish lawyer and politician. He was Member of Parliament (MP) for

Greenock Greenock (; sco, Greenock; gd, Grianaig, ) is a town and administrative centre in the Inverclyde council areas of Scotland, council area in Scotland, United Kingdom and a former burgh of barony, burgh within the Counties of Scotland, historic ...

from 1936 to 1941, and Chairman of the

Scottish Land Court The Scottish Land Court is a Scottish court of law based in Edinburgh with subject-matter jurisdiction covering disputes between landlords and tenants relating to agricultural tenancies, and matters related to crofts and crofters. The Scotti ...

from 1941 to 1965.

Early life

He was born in Hamilton the son of Robert Gibson. Gibson was educated at both the

Hamilton Academy Hamilton Academy was a school in Hamilton, South Lanarkshire, Scotland. The school was described as "one of the finest schools in Scotland" in the Cambridge University Press County Biography of 1910, and was featured in a 1950 Scottish Seconda ...

prep and senior schools and continued his studies at the

University of Glasgow , image = UofG Coat of Arms.png , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of arms Flag , latin_name = Universitas Glasguensis , motto = la, Via, Veritas, Vita , ...

, where he was Cunninghame Gold Medallist in Mathematics, Donaldson Scholar in Chemistry, Major Young Bursar in Arts and Law, Metcalfe Bursar in Science, and Stewart Bursar and Prizeman in Law. He received degrees of

M.A. A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Tho ...

B.Sc. A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University of ...

and

LL.B. Bachelor of Laws ( la, Legum Baccalaureus; LL.B.) is an undergraduate law degree in the United Kingdom and most common law jurisdictions. Bachelor of Laws is also the name of the law degree awarded by universities in the People's Republic of Chi ...

, all at the

University of Glasgow , image = UofG Coat of Arms.png , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of arms Flag , latin_name = Universitas Glasguensis , motto = la, Via, Veritas, Vita , ...

. He was elected Secretary of the

Glasgow University Students' Representative Council The Glasgow University Students' Representative Council, also known simply as the Students' Representative Council or by the acronyms GUSRC and SRC is a student union at the University of Glasgow. Unlike at other universities in the United Kin ...

in 1909, and President in 1910. In 1911, he was appointed Lecturer in Applied Electricity at Hamilton Technical School, located at

, and taught in the Academy's senior school, one of his pupils being

Thomas Cassells Thomas Cassells (7 August 1902 – 16 June 1944) was a Labour Party politician in Scotland who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Dunbartonshire from 1936 to 1941. He won the seat at a by-election in March 1936, when his predecessor resigne ...

, who was also to serve as a Labour MP (for Dunbartonshire, and for the same period, 1936–41). In 1913 he married Elizabeth Campbell Atkinson. In 1915, shortly after the outbreak of the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, Gibson joined the

Royal Garrison Artillery The Royal Garrison Artillery (RGA) was formed in 1899 as a distinct arm of the British Army's Royal Regiment of Artillery serving alongside the other two arms of the Regiment, the Royal Field Artillery (RFA) and the Royal Horse Artillery (RHA) ...

as a lieutenant. He rose to the rank of Captain but did not see active service, being returned to the Technical Training Staff of Scottish Command.

Legal career

After the War, in 1918, Gibson was admitted to the

Faculty of Advocates The Faculty of Advocates is an independent body of lawyers who have been admitted to practise as advocates before the courts of Scotland, especially the Court of Session and the High Court of Justiciary. The Faculty of Advocates is a constitu ...

, and between 1929 and 1931, was Senior

Advocate Depute The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service is the independent public prosecution service for Scotland, and is a Ministerial Department of the Scottish Government. The department is headed by His Majesty's Lord Advocate, who under the S ...

, one of the country's senior prosecutors. He was a member of the Labour Party and stood in a number of elections, serving as Member of Parliament for

from 1936 to 1941. He stood down from his seat in 1941, when he was appointed as Chairman of the

, succeeding another former pupil of

, David King Murray (Lord Murray.)

Political career

Gibson was an unsuccessful candidate in Roxburgh and Selkirk in

1929 This year marked the end of a period known in American history as the Roaring Twenties after the Wall Street Crash of 1929 ushered in a worldwide Great Depression. In the Americas, an agreement was brokered to end the Cristero War, a Catholic ...

, Edinburgh North in

1931 Events January * January 2 – South Dakota native Ernest Lawrence invents the cyclotron, used to accelerate particles to study nuclear physics. * January 4 – German pilot Elly Beinhorn begins her flight to Africa. * January 22 – Sir I ...

, at the Combined Scottish Universities in a 1934 by-election, and

Dundee Dundee (; sco, Dundee; gd, Dùn Dè or ) is Scotland's fourth-largest city and the 51st-most-populous built-up area in the United Kingdom. The mid-year population estimate for 2016 was , giving Dundee a population density of 2,478/km2 or ...

in the 1935 general election. He was elected as

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

(MP) for

at a by-election in 1936,Craig, page 600 and held his seat until he

resigned Resignation is the formal act of leaving or quitting one's office or position. A resignation can occur when a person holding a position gained by election or appointment steps down, but leaving a position upon the expiration of a term, or choos ...

from the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...

in 1941 on his appointment as Chairman of the

Later life

He was elected a Fellow of the

Royal Society of Edinburgh The Royal Society of Edinburgh is Scotland's national academy of science and letters. It is a registered charity that operates on a wholly independent and non-partisan basis and provides public benefit throughout Scotland. It was established i ...

in 1944. His proposers were Robert Taylor Skinner, Thomas MacKay Cooper ( Lord Cooper of Culross),

Alexander Moncrieff, Lord Moncrieff Alexander Moncrieff, Lord Moncrieff FRSE (14 August 1870 – 5 August 1949), was a Scottish lawyer and judge, who was created a Senator of the College of Justice. Life Alexander Moncrieff was the third son of Hope Margaret Pattison and her hus ...

and Catherwood Learmonth. He died in Leith Hospital in

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

on 9 April 1965.

Sources

*
Hansard, parliamentary debate, 16 Dec. 1936
Thomas Cassels and Robert Gibson, reference to Hamilton Academy. Retrieved 2011-01-11
Hansard, parliamentary debate 21 Nov. 1939
Robert Gibson, reference to his attendance at Hamilton Academy's prep school in the 1890s. Retrieved 2011-01-11

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gibson, Robert 1886 births 1965 deaths People educated at Hamilton Academy Alumni of the University of Glasgow British Army personnel of World War I Members of the Faculty of Advocates Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Scottish constituencies Scottish Labour MPs UK MPs 1935–1945 Chairs of the Scottish Land Court Royal Garrison Artillery officers