John Gibbs ( – ) was a British Gothic Revival architect based in

Wigan Wigan ( ) is a town in Greater Manchester, England. The town is midway between the two cities of Manchester, to the south-east, and Liverpool, to the south-west. It is the largest settlement in the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan and is its ad ...

Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...

, and

Oxford Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...

, England.

Biography

John Gibbs was born in Oxford, the son of James and Alice Gibbs. initially in Oxford but he moved to Wigan in the 1850s and then Manchester in the north of England. In 1858, he proposed a memorial fountain to commemorate

Alfred the Great Alfred the Great ( ; – 26 October 899) was King of the West Saxons from 871 to 886, and King of the Anglo-Saxons from 886 until his death in 899. He was the youngest son of King Æthelwulf and his first wife Osburh, who both died when Alfr ...

(purported to be the founder of

Oxford University The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the second-oldest continuously operating u ...

for many years) to be located in the centre of the wide Broad Street, southeast of St Giles', but it was never completed. The current

Banbury Cross Banbury is an historic market town and civil parish on the River Cherwell in Oxfordshire, South East England. The parish had a population of 54,335 at the 2021 Census. Banbury is a significant commercial and retail centre for the surrounding ...

was erected in 1859 to a design of Gibbs at the centre of

Banbury Banbury is an historic market town and civil parish on the River Cherwell in Oxfordshire, South East England. The parish had a population of 54,335 at the 2021 Census. Banbury is a significant commercial and retail centre for the surrounding ...

Oxfordshire Oxfordshire ( ; abbreviated ''Oxon'') is a ceremonial county in South East England. The county is bordered by Northamptonshire and Warwickshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the east, Berkshire to the south, and Wiltshire and Glouceste ...

, in commemoration of the marriage of

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in January 1901. Her reign of 63 year ...

's eldest daughter to Prince Frederick of Prussia. It is a stone, spire-shaped monument decorated in Gothic form. The cross is 52 feet 6 inches high and is topped with a gilt cross. Statues surrounding the cross were added later in 1911. Gibbs returned to Oxford in the 1860s and worked in St Giles', central

. In 1865, he designed a monument to

Prince Albert Prince Albert most commonly refers to: *Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (1819–1861), consort of Queen Victoria *Albert II, Prince of Monaco (born 1958), present head of state of Monaco Prince Albert may also refer to: Royalty * Alb ...

in Albert Park, Abingdon, then in

Berkshire Berkshire ( ; abbreviated ), officially the Royal County of Berkshire, is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Oxfordshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the north-east, Greater London ...

. This consisted of a statue on a tall pedestal, a total of 48 feet high. In

North Oxford North Oxford is a suburban part of the city of Oxford in England. It was owned for many centuries largely by St John's College, Oxford and many of the area's Victorian architecture, Victorian houses were initially sold on leasehold by the co ...

, Gibbs designed three large and prominent houses on the west side of

Banbury Road Banbury Road is a major arterial road in Oxford, England, running from St Giles' at the south end, north towards Banbury through the leafy suburb of North Oxford and Summertown, with its local shopping centre. Parallel and to the west is the ...

(numbers 54, 56, and 58). No. 54 (1866) now forms part of

Wycliffe Hall Wycliffe Hall () is a permanent private hall of the University of Oxford affiliated with the Church of England, specialising in philosophy, theology, and religion. It is named after the Bible translator and reformer John Wycliffe, who was mast ...

. No. 56 (1867) was built for Henry Hatch, a

draper Draper was originally a term for a retailer or wholesaler of cloth that was mainly for clothing. A draper may additionally operate as a cloth merchant or a haberdasher. History Drapers were an important trade guild during the medieval period ...

, and was later the long-time residence of Sir

Edward Bagnall Poulton Sir Edward Bagnall Poulton, FRS HFRSE FLS (27 January 1856 – 20 November 1943) was a British evolutionary biologist, a lifelong advocate of natural selection through a period in which many scientists such as Reginald Punnett doubted its ...

, FRS, Hope Professor of Zoology at

.Hinchcliffe, p. 105. The building is now used by the Careers Service of Oxford University. No. 58 (also 1867) was built for the chemist, William Walsh. It includes a statue of

William of Wykeham William of Wykeham (; 1320 or 1324 – 27 September 1404) was Bishop of Winchester and Chancellor of England. He founded New College, Oxford, and New College School in 1379, and founded Winchester College in 1382. He was also the clerk of ...

by the sculptor W. Forsyth of

Worcester Worcester may refer to: Places United Kingdom * Worcester, England, a city and the county town of Worcestershire in England ** Worcester (UK Parliament constituency), an area represented by a Member of Parliament * Worcester Park, London, Engl ...

in a niche on the external wall of the house. The building is now the Department of

Biological Anthropology Biological anthropology, also known as physical anthropology, is a natural science discipline concerned with the biological and behavioral aspects of human beings, their extinct hominin ancestors, and related non-human primates, particularly fro ...

and

Human Sciences Human science (or human sciences in the plural) studies the philosophical, biological, social, justice, and cultural aspects of human life. Human science aims to expand the understanding of the human world through a broad interdisciplinary appro ...

at Oxford University. John Gibbs designed the parsonage and the village school (1871) at

South Leigh :''There is also a Southleigh in Devon.'' South Leigh is a village in the civil parish of South Leigh and High Cogges, in the West Oxfordshire district, in Oxfordshire, England, on Limb Brook, a small tributary of the River Thames, about east ...

in Oxfordshire west of Oxford. Gibbs wrote books promoting the

Victorian Gothic Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic or neo-Gothic) is an Architectural style, architectural movement that after a gradual build-up beginning in the second half of the 17th century became a widespread movement in the first half ...

architectural style including ''Designs for Gothic Ornaments'' (1853) and ''English Gothic Architecture'' (1855).Hinchcliffe, p. 248. He was also the author of a novel, ''The Old Parish Church: with the Ghost of Merton Hall'', published in 1861.

References

Sources

* *

External links

John Gibbs (architect.)

Google Books Google Books (previously known as Google Book Search, Google Print, and by its code-name Project Ocean) is a service from Google that searches the full text of books and magazines that Google has scanned, converted to text using optical charac ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gibbs, John Year of death missing 19th-century English architects Gothic Revival architects English architecture writers 19th-century English novelists Architects from Oxford English male novelists 19th-century British male writers 1827 births

Biography

See also

References

Sources

External links