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GIBSON

In heraldry, one sometimes finds a group of apparently unrelated families of the same surname using a similar heraldic charge. This is usually because there would be one fairly prominent old family of the name. When others of the same surname rose to importance and were granted arms, they wanted to have arms that indicated at least a possible link to their earlier, distinguished namesakes.

In the case of the Gibsons, that heraldic charge is the stork. This type of bird appears in the arms of the Gibsons of Cumberland, Essex, London and Northumberland as three storks rising Proper, and the Gibsons of Ireland had a stork’s head as their crest. Other Gibsons of Lancashire, London and Yorkshire had a stork close Argent, in the bill an oak leaf Vert for their crest and the Gibson of East Beckham and Thorpe, Norfolk had the crest of a stork Argent, beaked legged and ducally gorged Gules. The arms shown here are no exception. They are those of the Gibsons of Yelland, Lancashire, said to be of Scottish stock. They are blazoned Azure, three storks rising Proper, with the crest A stork rising Proper, in his beak an olive branch Vert.

          The name Gibson is a patronymic, i.e. a surname that means ‘son of’, taken from Gib – a contraction of Gilbert. Gilbert was a popular name in the Middle Ages. It was recorded in Domesday Book (1086) in its early form, Gislebertus, which comes from the Old German gisil, ‘pledge’ and ‘beorht, ‘bright’. Early references to the surname Gibson include Henry Gibsonne in Nottinghamshire in 1311 and Richard Gibbeson in Worcestershire in 1327.

          Famous bearers of the name include a particular favourite of mine, Richard Gibson (1615–1690), one of a small coterie of dwarves collected by Queen Henrietta Maria in the heady years leading up the Civil War. He started as a page to the king and queen, but was also a talented painter. His small stature made him perfectly suited to a fashion of the time – portrait miniatures. His skill enabled him to survive the fall of the monarchy, setting up his own studio in London and painting the likes of Cromwell himself. He married another of the Queen’s dwarfs, Anne Shepherd: the event was made into a court spectacle. The Gibsons then surprised everyone (although not modern science) by producing a family of perfectly normal-sized children. 

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