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 Literature, letters, judged to be "eminently distinguished in their subject". ...

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

Greenock Greenock (; ; , ) is a town in Inverclyde, Scotland, located in the west central Lowlands of Scotland. The town is the administrative centre of Inverclyde Council. It is a former burgh within the historic county of Renfrewshire, and forms ...

from 1936 to 1941, and Chairman of the

Scottish Land Court The Scottish Land Court () is a Courts of Scotland, Scottish court of law based in Edinburgh with subject-matter jurisdiction covering disputes between landlords and tenants relating to Tenant farmer, agricultural tenancies, and matters relat ...

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 Boarding school, boarding and day school in Hamilton, South Lanarkshire, Hamilton, South Lanarkshire, Scotland. It was founded in 1588 as a boy's school and was open for nearly four centuries. In the late 19th century, ...

prep and senior schools and continued his studies at the

University of Glasgow The University of Glasgow (abbreviated as ''Glas.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals; ) is a Public university, public research university in Glasgow, Scotland. Founded by papal bull in , it is the List of oldest universities in continuous ...

, 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 ( or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA or AM) 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. Those admitted to the degree have ...

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

and

LL.B. A Bachelor of Laws (; LLB) is an undergraduate law degree offered in most common law countries as the primary law degree and serves as the first professional qualification for legal practitioners. This degree requires the study of core legal subje ...

, all at the

. 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 resi ...

, 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 or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, 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 Artillery, Royal Regiment of Artillery serving alongside the other two arms of the Regiment, the Royal Field Artillery (RFA) and the Royal Horse ...

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 const ...

, and between 1929 and 1931, was Senior

Advocate Depute The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service () is the independent public prosecutor, prosecution service for Scotland, and is a Ministerial Department of the Scottish Government. The department is headed by Charles III of the United Kingd ...

, 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 The Combined Scottish Universities was a three-member university constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1918 until 1950. It was created by merging the single-member constituencies of Glasgow and Aberd ...

in a 1934 by-election, and

Dundee Dundee (; ; or , ) is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, fourth-largest city in Scotland. The mid-year population estimate for the locality was . It lies within the eastern central Lowlands on the north bank of the Firt ...

in the 1935 general election. He was elected as Member of Parliament (MP) for

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

resigned Resignation is the formal act of relinquishing or vacating 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 ...

from the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, 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 ...

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 (RSE) 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 establis ...

in 1944. His proposers were Robert Taylor Skinner, Thomas MacKay Cooper (

Lord Cooper of Culross Thomas Mackay Cooper, 1st Baron Cooper of Culross (24 September 1892 – 15 July 1956) was a Scottish Unionist Party politician, a judge and a historian, who had been appointed Lord Advocate of Scotland. Background and education Cooper was t ...

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 Alexander Moncrieff, Advocate and She ...

and Catherwood Learmonth. He died in Leith Hospital in

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

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