GIBBON, grbein, Edward, English histo rian: b. Putney, Surrey, 27 April O. S. (8 May) 1737; d. London, 16 Jan. 1794. He was the eld est son of Edward Gibbon and Judith Porten. The family was originally Kentish, and Gibbon gives some extended account of its origin in his justly celebrated 'Memoirs.' He there erred, however, as he suspected before the close of his life, in tracing the connection to Robert Gibbon of Rolvenden. He was really descended from Thomas Gibbon of West Cliffe, a younger brandi of the family. It is significant that the arms of the younger branch, rather than that of the Rolvenden Gibbons, appears on the Gib bon bookplate, perhaps one that his father had used before him.
Gibbon's father was a care-free pleasure loving gentleman. He married against his father's wishes and lost thereby a large share of an ample fortune. He lost still more in the expensive pleasures of the mid-18th century, in which he took a too active part. His public life was limited to sittings in two Parliaments as a Tory, and to an aldermanship of the city of London for a few months. After some 10 years of married life Gibbon's mother died and his father, deeply mourning his loss, but also deeply in debt, retired to Buriton and the quiet life of a secluded country gentleman.
Gibbon's grandfather was a man of more force of character. The son of Matthew Gib bon, linen-draper of London, he became an un usually successful business man. He contracted to clothe King William's troops in Flanders. He was made one of the commissioners of cus toms and was commended by Lord Bolingbroke for his exceptional knowledge of the trade of England. He became a director of the ill starred South Sea Company, only to lose the labors of 30 years in the crash of 1720. Yet before his death, 16 years later, he amassed an other fortune, almost, if not quite, as large as the first.
The future historian was a sickly child whose life was often despaired of. The famous prac titioners of the time were frequently called to attend him. Fortunately, in addition to a mother's care, he had the loving devotion of her maiden sister Catherine, to whom he ac knowledges that he owed his life. He was
taught at home, partly by a domestic tutor, until almost nine, when he was sent to the school of Dr. Wooddeson at Kingston-upon Thames. Here he remained some two years "reviled and buffeted" as a Tory, yet gaining an elementary knowledge of Latin gat the ex pense of many tears and some blood." But the precocious boy was gaining more from his "early and invincible love of reading," which was encouraged by his cultivated and judicious aunt. Of her he says, she was "the true mother of my mind as well as of my health." He thus read Pope's 'Homer,' the 'Arabian Nights,' Dryden's 'Virgil,' Ovid's 'Metamorphoses,' besides "many English pages of poetry and ro mance, of history and travels." Gibbon was next sent to Westminster School, which his father had attended before him. This was the easier because his aunt, who had been left pendent by the bankruptcy of her father, nos, took charge of one of the homes for the boy,.. and could still care for him. Yet his bodlry afflictions sadly interfered with his studies. He was finally transferred to Bath and then to the house of a physician at Winchester. In his 15th year Gibbon's health wonderfully improved and after a few ineffective weeks in the home of Rev. Philip Francis at Esher, Surrey, he was quickly transferred to Oxford, where he be came a gentleman commoner of Magdalen Col lege in April 1752.
Even before this time the genius of the fu ture historian had asserted itself in the char acter of his reading. Some 20 volumes octavo of a 'Universal History' were devoured by the mere boy as they appeared. He then took up individual work on ancient or modern times, ranging through a vast number with great ra pidity. It was Ec'hard's (Roman History' that first led him to the period he was later to make his own. From this he extended his reading to the mediaeval age of Europe and, before he was 16, had exhausted all English sources in his favorite field. While he was yet to make himself the authoritative scholar, he already showed that marvelous ability in acquiring his torical knowledge that marked his later man hood.