Full name of worker at H.M. Factory Gretna (and any other names they are known by): Edward James Gibson

Gender: Male

Date and Place of Birth: December 4th 1868, Macduff, Banffshire.

Date and Place of Death: March 31st 1952, Annan 

Nationality: Scottish

Biography

Childhood: 13 Duff Street, Macduff, Banffshire.

Parents: Robert Gibson, Isabella Kiloh

Parent’s occupations: Robert Gibson, Draper.

 

Schools / universities attended and years of attendance: Unknown

Occupation: Mechanical Engineer.

Place of residence at Gretna: 102 High Street, Annan

Job title at Gretna: Engineer

Marital status: 1919 Annie Murray.

 

Children: None 

Travels: Peru, Chile, Gretna, Ghana.

Awards/recognitions: Unknown

 

Trivia / any other information: 

Edward James Gibson was brought up at 12 Duff Street in Macduff Banffshire. He was the son of a local Draper Robert Gibson and by 1891 the Gibson family were at 11 Duff Street with Edward attending the local parish school. In 1901 he is recorded living as a lodger at 163 Crown Street in Aberdeen, and working as an apprentice engineer. His work as an engineer took Edward abroad and during the early 1910s he spent time working in South America working in Chile. Following the country’s independence in 1818 a concerted policy to attract Europeans to start businesses and settle the rural areas to the south was pursued. By the late 1890s Chile industrialised with large infrastructure projects such as the Transandine Railway and the rapid development of the Chilean Navy. He arrived in Liverpool from the port of Calleo in Peru in 1916 but his next job was closer to home taking up a position at HM Gretna. Edward worked at the factory as an engineer perhaps at Broomhill he wasn’t at the Eastriggs township, however, but instead had lodgings at 102 High Street in Annan. Some exuberant during the New Year of 1918 led to Edward making an appearance before the Eastriggs disciplinary tribunal on 14 January 1918 and was fined #3 for being under the influence of alcohol in a government department. 

 

Edward remained in Annan after the war and in 1919 he married Annie Murray daughter of a roadman Walter Murray. Edward moved in with the Murray family at 15 Carlyle’s Place, but he was soon on the move again. In 1922 Edward was attracted to Trinidad for work. Oil had been discovered in 1857 in the Southwest of the Island and by 1907 major drilling work commenced with supportive infrastructure constructed. It may be that Edward’s work related to this activity but there may have been another reason, for instance another engineer John Logie Baird, the inventor of television, had gone to Trinidad around the same period, with the aim of producing jam. Edward returned in 1923 arriving in London on April 23 but during 1925/26 Edward was working as a fitter in Sekondi, Ghana, and returned to Liverpool on January 2, 1927. 

 

Little is known about Edward’s wife Annie Murray her last appearance in the records is for her wedding in 1919 so it is not clear what happened to her beyond this date. Her father Walter Murray, however, was involved in an accident while walking along side the River Annan. Close to the Howes pool dyke he lost his footing and falling into the river was swept rapidly downstream. Fishermen close to the railway bridge were able to recover his body. He was taken to Carlyle’s Place where he had resided with his sister. No mention was made in reports of either Edward or Annie Gibson. Edward Gibson remained in Annan after his retirement and lived at 2 Carlyle’s Place when he died on March 31st, 1952. He is buried at Annan cemetery. 

 

Bibliography

• Books published (Title, year of publication, publisher): 
• Books written about the individual or mentioning the individual (Title, year of publication, publisher): 

References

1881 Scotland Census, Banff, Banffshire , digital image, s.v. “Edward J Gibson”, Ancestry.com.

1891 Scotland Census, Banff, Banffshire, digital image, s.v. “Edward I Gibson”, Ancestry.com.

1901 Scotland Census, Aberdeen Ferryhill, Aberdeenshire, digital image, s.v. “Edward J Gibson”, Ancestry.com.

UK & Ireland, Incoming Passenger Lists, 1878-1960, Liverpool, England, 1916 May, digital image, s.v. “Edward J Gibson”, Ancestry.com.

“The Eastriggs Munitions Tribunal,” Southern Reporter, January 17, 1918, 6.

“Marriages,” Annandale Observer, March 21, 1919, 5.

UK & Ireland, Incoming Passenger Lists, 1878-1960, London, England, 1923 April, digital image, s.v. “Edward J Gibson”, Ancestry.com. 

UK & Ireland, Incoming Passenger Lists, 1878-1960, London, England, 1927 January, digital image, s.v. “Edward J Gibson”, Ancestry.com.

“River Annan Drowning Incident”, Scotsman, August 9, 1928, 3

England & Scotland, Select Cemetery Registers 1800-2016, Scotland, Dumfries-shire, Annan Cemetery, 1952, digital image, s.v. “Edward J Gibson”, Ancestry.com.