James Thomson Gibson-Craig (12 March 1799 – 18 July 1886) was a Scottish book collector and
writer to the Signet
The Society of Writers to His Majesty's Signet is a private society of Scottish solicitors, dating back to 1594 and part of the College of Justice. Writers to the Signet originally had special privileges in relation to the drawing up of documen ...
.
Early life, education, and career
Gibson-Craig was born on 12 March 1799 as the second son of
James Gibson (1765–1850), and his wife Anne (d. 1837), ''
née
The birth name is the name of the person given upon their birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name or to the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a births registe ...
'' Thomson; his father was a
Clerk of the Signet
The Clerks of the Signet were English officials who played an intermediate role in the passage of letters patent through the seals. For most of the history of the position, four clerks were in office simultaneously.
Letters patent prepared by th ...
and had married Anne in 1796. He
double-barrelled his name with "Craig" on royal license in 1823, and was created a baronet in 1831. His elder brother and father's heir,
William Gibson-Craig, 2nd Baronet, became a notable
Member of Parliament and
advocate
An advocate is a professional in the field of law. List of country legal systems, Different countries and legal systems use the term with somewhat differing meanings. The broad equivalent in many English law–based jurisdictions could be a ba ...
.
Gibson-Craig attended the
Royal High School at the
University of Edinburgh
The University of Edinburgh (, ; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a Public university, public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded by the City of Edinburgh Council, town council under th ...
. In 1824, he was admitted writer to the Signet.
[ Gibson-Craig was apprenticed under his father][ and practiced as a partner in the firm J. T. Gibson-Craig, Dalziel, and Brodies.][
]
Antiquarian tastes
In Edinburgh, Gibson-Craig ingratiated himself into the city's cultivated circles, gathering over antiquarian, literary, and artistic topics. He made his acquaintance with such figures as Walter Scott
Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet (15 August 1771 – 21 September 1832), was a Scottish novelist, poet and historian. Many of his works remain classics of European literature, European and Scottish literature, notably the novels ''Ivanhoe'' (18 ...
, Thomas Babington Macaulay
Thomas Babington Macaulay, 1st Baron Macaulay, (; 25 October 1800 – 28 December 1859) was an English historian, poet, and Whig politician, who served as the Secretary at War between 1839 and 1841, and as the Paymaster General between 184 ...
, Henry Cockburn, Lord Cockburn
Henry Thomas Cockburn of Bonaly, Lord Cockburn ( ; 26 October 1779 in Cockpen, Midlothian – 26 April/18 July 1854 in Bonaly, Midlothian) was a Scottish lawyer, judge and literary figure. He served as Solicitor General for Scotland between 183 ...
, Alexander Jeffrey, Charles Kirkpatrick Sharpe
Charles Kirkpatrick Sharpe (15 May 1781 – 17 March 1851) was a Scottish antiquary and artist.
Life
He was the second son of Charles Sharpe (originally Charles Kirkpatrick) of Hoddam, Dumfriesshire, by Eleonora, youngest daughter of John Rento ...
, David Laing, Henry Raeburn
Sir Henry Raeburn (; 4 March 1756 – 8 July 1823) was a Scottish portrait painter. He served as Portrait Painter to King George IV in Scotland.
Biography
Raeburn was born the son of a manufacturer in Stockbridge, on the Water of Leith: a f ...
, and William Fettes Douglas
Sir William Fettes Douglas (1822–1891) was a Scottish painter and art connoisseur, rising to be President of the Royal Scottish Academy.
Life
He was born on 12 March 1822 at 26 Rankeillor Street in Edinburgh's South Side, the eldest son o ...
. He was a very early member of the Bannatyne Club The Bannatyne Club, named in honour of George Bannatyne and his famous anthology of Scots literature the Bannatyne Manuscript, was a text publication society founded by Sir Walter Scott to print rare works of Scottish interest, whether in history ...
in 1823, a Scottish antiquarian group dedicated to publishing rare Scottish texts.[ On 1 March 1830, Gibson-Craig was elected a ]Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh
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". ...
, on the proposal of Andrew Duncan, the younger
Andrew Duncan, the younger (10 August 1773 – 13 May 1832) was a British physician and professor at the University of Edinburgh.
Life
Duncan was the son of Elizabeth Knox and Andrew Duncan, the elder, born at Adam Square in Edinburgh on 10 ...
, a society which his brother had joined the previous year.book of hours
A book is a structured presentation of recorded information, primarily verbal and graphical, through a medium. Originally physical, electronic books and audiobooks are now existent. Physical books are objects that contain printed material, ...
, brought to Scotland in the 15th century, and annotated in Scottish Gaelic
Scottish Gaelic (, ; Endonym and exonym, endonym: ), also known as Scots Gaelic or simply Gaelic, is a Celtic language native to the Gaels of Scotland. As a member of the Goidelic language, Goidelic branch of Celtic, Scottish Gaelic, alongs ...
.British Museum
The British Museum is a Museum, public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is the largest in the world. It documents the story of human cu ...
, where he showed it to the keeper of manuscripts, Edward Augustus Bond, who speculated on its date and origins.[
He presented an edition of ''Papers Relative to the Marriage of King James the Sixth of Scotland, with the Princess Anna of Denmark: A.D. MDLXXXIX, and the Form and Manner of Her Majesty's Coronation at Holyroodhouse, A.D. MDXC'', to the Bannatyne Club in 1828. He also sponsored the publication of a facsimile edition of his ancestor, John Craig's, ''Short Summe of the Whole Catechisme'' (1581), which was published with a biography of Craig by Thomas Graves Law. In a private issue of 25 copies, Gibson-Craig produced a facsimile edition of several bookbindings in his father's collection in 1828, ''Fac-Similes of Old Bookbinding in the Collection of James Gibson Craig''.][
]
Personal life
On 23 November 1841, he married Jane, the daughter of John Peter Grant of Rothiemurchus and widow of Colonel Gervaise Pennington. The couple had no children. Politically, Gibson-Craig followed his father as a Whig. Jane predeceased her husband on 25 April 1863, and James died on 18 July 1886, in Edinburgh.[
After his death, Gibson-Craig's will was confirmed at £68,789 5s 7d, and his library was auctioned off. The auction of 9674 lots from his library occurred at ]Sotheby's
Sotheby's ( ) is a British-founded multinational corporation with headquarters in New York City. It is one of the world's largest brokers of fine art, fine and decorative art, jewellery, and collectibles. It has 80 locations in 40 countries, an ...
, over the course of twenty-eight days between 27 June 1887 and 17 November 1888, eventually raising as much as £15,509 4s 6d.[ Among these manuscripts sold, was the Murthly Hours.][ At Dowells, Edinburgh, his Scottish manuscripts were sold off in 1887. At Christie's, over three sales, some art from Gibson-Craig's collection was auctioned off in April 1887.][
]
References
Further reading
*
*
External links
Papers Relative to the Marriage of King James the Sixth of Scotland, With the Princess Anna of Denmark; A.D. MDLXXXIX. and the Form and Manner of Her Majesty's Coronation At Holyroodhouse, A.D.MDXC (1828)
at the Internet Archive
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gibson-Craig, James Thomson
1799 births
1886 deaths
19th-century Scottish antiquarians
Alumni of the University of Edinburgh
James
People educated at the Royal High School, Edinburgh
Scottish book and manuscript collectors