GIB, ADAM,
one of the early ministers of the Secession church in Scotland and
leader of the Antiburghers, the ninth son of Mr. John Gib, proprietor of
the estate of Castletown, in the parish of Muckart, Perthshire, was born
there on 7th April, 1714. His father, intending him for the
medical profession, sent him in 1730 to the university of Edinburgh, to
be educated under the superintendence of his uncle, Mr. Gib, surgeon in
that city, Peculiarly attached to mathematical studies, he was a
favourite scholar of the celebrated Professor M’Laurin, father of Lord
Dreghorn, a lord of session. One day as he was walking down the old West
Bow, deeply mediating on a mathematical problem, he found himself in the
midst of a crowd, assembled to witness the execution of a criminal in
the Grassmarket, when the question forced itself upon him mind, “Will
the subject which now so entirely engrosses my attention, prepare me for
eternity?” Resolving from that moment to commence a new course of
conduct, he lived retired that he might not be exposed to temptation,
and writing out rules for his guidance, signed them with his own blood.
Finding himself, however, unable to act up to them. He determined upon
retiring to some desert island, where no temptation could exist to lead
him astray; but the perusal of Luther’s work on the Galatians caused him
to change his design. The introduction to that work, it is supposed,
brought him first to the knowledge of the truth.
He now
resolved to devote himself to the work of the ministry, and having, in
1735, joined the Associate Presbytery, he was by them, on 5th
March 1740, licensed t preach the gospel in the West Kirk of Stirling.
Soon after he received a call from the Seceding congregation of
Edinburgh, and another from that of Stitchell, On the 2d April 1741, he
was ordained minister of the former, and under his powerful and popular
preaching, it soon increased largely in numbers.
During the
rebellion of 1745 he took an active part in support of the government.
He was the means of raising several companies of volunteers among his
own people, for the defence of the capital, and, on its occupation by
the Highland army, he assembled his congregation for public worship at
Dreghorn near Colinton, about three miles west of the city, on which
occasion he preached for five successive Sabbaths in the open air,
showing his loyalty to the government, even in presence of some of the
insurgents, by praying for the reigning sovereign. Shortly afterwards he
accompanied part of his congregation, who had taken up arms in defence
of government, to Falkirk, where, a few hours before the battle of the
17th January, he signalized himself by his zeal in seizing a
rebel spy, and lodging him in prison, from whence in the evening he was
liberated by the Pretender’s army, on marching victoriously into
Falkirk.
His father had
been much displeased with him for abandoning the medical profession, and
refused for some time to hear him preach, after he was licensed; but
afterwards, being dissatisfied with the habits of his eldest son, he
disinherited him, and settled the estate of Castletown on the subject of
this notice. When, after his death, his deed of settlement was read, Mr.
Gib asked of his brother, if he would engage to change his mode of life
on condition of the estate being restored to him; and on being answered
in the affirmative, he immediately destroyed the deed by putting it into
the fire in presence of the company assembled on the occasion.
In 1746, when
the memorable schism occurred in the Secession church, respecting the
religious clause in the burgess’ oath, Mr. Gib took a leading part on
the side of those who maintained that the swearing of this clause was
inconsistent with the public profession of Seceders. The Antiburgher
Synod was constituted in his house at Edinburgh, on 10th
April 1747, and his prominent position in the controversy obtained for
him the title of ‘Pope Gib.’ During the last years of his life, he
suffered severely from the gout. He died at Edinburgh on 18th
June 1788, in the 75th year of his age, and 48th
of his ministry, ans was interred in the Greyfriars churchyard of that
city, where an elegant monument was erected to his memory by his
congregation.
His works are:
A pamphlet in
the controversy concerning Whitfield and the “Cambusland Work.” Edin.
1742.
The
proceedings of the Associate Synod at Edinburgh, concerning some
Ministers who have separated from them. 1748.
A Solemn
Warning by the Associate Synod in Scotland; addressed to persons of all
ranks in Great Britain and Ireland. Edin. 1758.
An Address to
the Associate Synod, met at Edinburgh, Oct. 11, 1759, concerning a
petition and reasons laid before them by the Rev. Alexander Moncrieff,
&c. 1763.
An Exposition
of a false and abusive Libel, entitled, ‘The procedure of the Associate
Synod in Mr. Pirie’s case represented,’ &c. 1764.
A Refuge of
Lies Swept away. 1768.
The present
Truth: A Display of the Secession Testimony in the three periods of the
rise, state, and maintenance of the Testimony. 2 vols. 8vo, 1774.
An Antidote
against a new heresy concerning the true Sonship of Jesus Christ. A
Sermon from John ix. 35. 1777.
Vindiciae
Dominiciae: A Defence of the reformation standards in the Church of
Scotland, concerning the administration of the Lord’s Supper, and the
one Sonship of Jesus Christ. Edin. 1778.
An Account of
the burgher Re-Exhibition of the Secession Testimony. Edin. 1780.
An Exposition
of some late Reveries concerning the Sonship of Christ. Edin. 1780.
A Memorial and
Remonstrance read before the Associate Synod, at Edinburgh, May 2, 1782,
relative to a printed Sermon which had been preached before them. Edin.
1784.
Sacred
Contemplations; in three parts. Containing, 1. A view of the Covenant of
Works; 2. Of the Covenant of Grace; and 3. Of the absolute and immediate
dependence of all things on God. Edin. 1786, 8vo. At the end of this
work, executed in the 73d year of his age, and forming a compendious
body of Calvinistic divinity, was an ‘Essay on Liberty and Necessity,’
in answer to Lord Kames’ Essay on that subject.
The Life and Times of Robert Gib
Lord of Carribber, Familiar Servitor and Master of the Stables to King
James V. of Scotland by George Duncan Gibb, Bart., of Falkland and of
Carribber, M.A. M.D. LL. in two volumes (1874)
INTRODUCTION
Various causes
have induced the publication of the present work which will come under
notice in their proper place, but the chief one was to give the Life and
necessarily the Times of a personage who held a position at Court of
some importance during the entire reign of King James v. We allude to
Robert Gib, who was his Master of the Stables from the year 1524 to the
time of the King’s death in 1542. Concerning him and his office not less
than 300 extracts from the Treasurers’ Accounts of Scotland are given in
the Appendix, full of originality, interest, and information ; these are
freely quoted and referred to in the general narrative. Robert Gib’s
history occupies some eighteen chapters, the chief particulars of which
are shown in the Table of Contents, but it is proper to mention here
that he played a prominent part in his vocation, and was of essential
service to the King on several occasions, the most important of which
was the assistance he afforded in effecting his escape from the power of
the Douglases in 1528, an act that was never suspected by any person
throughout the King’s reign, but one that the King himself never forgot,
and his treatment of his servant from first to last was one of
invariable kindness, regard, and abundant reward. We have shown this
pretty fully, and it explains the mention of many gifts at the end of
several of the chapters, so incorp orated as not to interfere with the
even current of the general narrative. We have not before stated it, but
in all probability the marriage between Robert Gib and Elizabeth Shaw
was brought about by the King; she was a lady of rare accomplishments
and virtues, and mother of Janies, Abbot of Kelso and Melrose : she
proved herself an affectionate wife and mother, and bore her husband a
family of sons. and daughters, some of whose descendants exist to this
day. One daughter married Sir Peter Young of Seyton, tutor with George
Buchanan, and afterwards Almoner for Scotland to James vi., which
explains the devotion of three Chapters, xxiv., xxxc, and to
him and his sons, who played a prominent part in subsequent reigns,
especially Dr. John Young, Dean of Winchester, and the Rev. Patrick
Young, an eminent scholar. As Janies v. was an accomplished equestrian,
and spared neither trouble nor expense upon his stables, the Royal stud
being considered the finest for its extent in Europe, he seldom went
upon any progress, expedition, or adventure without Robert Gib, and he
therefore was a witness to many of the acts of justice on behalf of the
poor and humble, wherein the King’s sudden appearance after a long ride
took their oppressors by surprise. Had King James been as well served by
others as by his Master of the Stables, the probability is that he would
never have died of a broken heart. However, we have given Robert Gib’s
history as well as we were able, and the occurrences of the time meet
with their due share of consideration. In the two first Chapters there
is a reference to the times of James iv., when Robert Gib’s father
nearly lost his life at Flodden, being one of the few who survived that
event, and it may be owing to it, that the son received his appointment
at the Court of James v. in 1524. Mention of this was necessary in the
short account given of his family history, and a notice of his children
concludes his Life and Times, not omitting a chapter upon the Shaw
family.
Finishing with the father we take up the History and
Times of Sir John Gib of Knock, his third son, who was appointed Groom
of the Bedchamber to James vi. in 1575, when the Kino- was in his ninth
year, that is to say three or four years before he commenced to reign,
and continued in that office in close proximity to the Royal person for
nearly fifty years. His history, not less fully given than that of his
father, is divided into two parts, and occupies fourteen chapters; the
first part takes in the reign of James vi. up to the period of his
accession to the English Crown in 1603, and the second the period of the
King’s reign in England to that of Sir John’s death in 1628. The events
comprised in the period devoted to the History of Sir John Gib are of
more thrilling interest than in his father’s history, and he played a
not less important part towards King James, although his office was less
conspicuous; indeed, that becomes apparent enough throughout the
narrative. King James vi., both when reigning in Scotland and in
England, employs John Gib on many missions of delicacy, importance, and
emergency. He bore a reprieve from the King in the nick of time to save
the lives of Lords Cobham and Gray and Sir Griffin Markham, when the
neck of the last was almost upon the block at Winchester in 1603. He
accompanied the King in his marriage expedition to Denmark in 1589 ; he
became the Keeper of the Palace of Dunfermline, which office was
continued to his son James after him, who, we may mention, was a godson
of the King, as was his cousin James Young, who however had this
advantage over him, that he was knighted at his baptism and made an
infant gentleman of the King’s bedchamber. Sir John Gib, although a
witness and a sharer of many of the troubles of King James, especially
before his accession, of which a notable example is given in Chapter
xxn. when the King was besieged at Falkland by Bothwell in 1592, was
never more painfully placed than after the sudden and unjust treatment
he received at the hands—-or rather we should say the feet—of the King
in 1622, narrated in Chapter xxx., when he experienced the awkward
honour of having to pardon the King for it, who knelt down upon his
knees to his old servant to beg his forgiveness. That he was a truly
valued, respected, and confidential servant to the King in every sense,
is amply shown by the numerous marks of favour both he and his
connexions received at the royal hands, many of which are noticed in the
extracts from the Privy Seal Register of Scotland given in the Appendix,
all referred to and quoted, however, in the general narrative.
Respecting these extracts, it may be observed that they extend from 1498
to 1641, and relate to the family of Robert Gib and his descendants.
Having concluded the first two-thirds of the work, we
come to the remaining third, giving the career of Sir Henry Gib, the
first baronet of Falkland and Carribber, commencing it as a Groom of the
Bedchamber to Henry Prince of Wales, on whose death he was continued in
the same office to King James, and afterwards for a few years to Charles
I. He was a grandson of Robert Gib, and his history extends from 1603 to
the period of his death in 1650, occupying ten chapters, and equally
with Sir John Gib of Knock and Robert Gib, lord of Carribber, he played
an important part at Court, and was a sharer as well as being mixed up
with many remarkable events in stirring times. Although a Groom of the
Bedchamber, he was a Clerk of the Signet as well, and had his hands
pretty full. Prince Henry was much attached to him, and evinced an
interest in his affairs on several occasions, displaying an amount of
wisdom befitting- one of older years. He was naturalized by
Act of Par-hament in 1610, and his services as one of the grooms of the
Prince were so much appreciated by King James, that he not only made him
groom of his own bedchamber on the Prince’s death, but conferred a
pension of £200 a year upon him. Henry Gib was despatched to Calais in
September 1613 by the King, to stay the duel between Henry Howard and
his brother-in-law, the Earl of Essex, and did so ; and in the
succeeding October, with Sir Thomas Erskine and Henry May, he was sent
on a special mission to the Low Countries. This was some eight months
after the marriage of the Princess Elizabeth to the Elector Palatine. He
is mixed up with the trial of the Earl and Countess of Somerset in 1616,
in so far that he hands Lumsden’s relation to the
King concerning Weston, which is referred to by Sir
Francis Bacon in his speech in the Star Chamber ; and he got into
temporary disgrace for burning letters and papers in conjunction with
Sir Bobert Kerr (a kinsman of Somerset’s, afterwards Earl of Ancrum),
that might have been produced on Somerset’s trial, concerning which an
explanation is given in Chapter xxxvi. We give a large number of
documents and papers relating to Henry Gib, who, on his retirement from
Court, was created a baronet of Nova Scotia in 1634. He seems to have
had a o-reat deal of trouble in connexion with a grant to him by King
James of Ashley House and the manor of Walton Leigh, in Surrey, which
King-Charles exchanged for Crown property at Jarrow and Brancepath in
Durham. Indeed, the whole of Chapter xxxix. is devoted to this subject;
and probably it was one of the reasons why he got into trouble with the
Parliament, who sequestrated his property by an Act in August 1648.
Misfortune now seemed to pursue him, which, with the death of King
Charles in 1649, broke his heart ; and he followed him, not long after,
in April 1650. We have considered his services as fully sis his
predecessors’, not overlooking those in the latter part of his life as
one of the Committee of Estates for Scotland.
The comparatively uninterrupted sunshine of the family,
prior to Sir Henry Gib’s troubles, was not continued to his successor,
Sir John Gib, the second baronet of Falkland, a great-grandson of Robert
Gib, lord of Carribber, for he attached himself to the cause of the
Covenant in Scotland, and became actively mixed up with the troubles of
1679, and although he escaped persecution, it was some time ere he was
permitted to retire into private life. This we show pretty clearly in
the three concluding chapters of the second volume. He ended his days in
1703; and after the death of his son, the peculiar circumstances in
which the family were placed contributed for a while to throw the family
honours in abeyance, although the line of succession was unbroken. The
history of Robert Gib and his descendants ends with the marriage of the
second baronet’s grandson in 1740.
Besides those who held offices at the Court of James iv.,
v., and vi. in Scotland, mention must, be made of Robert Gib, the
youngest son of Robert Gib, lord of Carribber, who received the office
of Coroner for Edinburgh, in the reign of Queen Mary, and some
interesting information concerning that ancient office is afforded in
Chapter xv., which is new. Unfortunately, the holder of it was cruelly
slain, probably in the execution of the duties of his office, in the
reign of James vi.
There is a general connexion in the historical narrative
of the various personages who occupy a a place in these pages, and not
an incident is given relating to them that is not supported by public
documents or reliable family testimony. Without a desire to be tedious,
an effort has been made to introduce into the text most of the various
references whence the information was derived, and in some instances it
has been found desirable to give unabridged some facts of interest and
importance, that have been variously treated and described by different
writers. A word of apology is necessary about the Appendix. It will be
found somewhat voluminous, but wherever an abstract existed in any
Register, that gave the substance in a few words of a very long
original, it invariably has had the preference ; but this could not
always be done ; and occasionally, when not too long, documents have
been given in full. Of the many charters in the Great Seal Register of
Scotland, a mere list alone of the titles is given, because in some way
or other they briefly appear in the Privy Seal and other Registers.
Every single extract in the Lord Treasurer’s Accounts from the year 1523
to 1543, in which the name of Robert Gib appears, is given ; and in
themselves these records form a valuable equestrian summary. The general
information in the body of the work, which it is hoped will be found
interesting and somewhat instructive, is to some extent furnished by the
material in the Appendix, illustrated at the same time by general
remarks upon the history of the times, with the correct rendering of
dates and rectification of numerous errors in them; but it has been our
effort to confine ourselves mainly to facts, and not to spin out a long
story, at the same time not forgetting that the present work is a
contribution to historical literature and family history which, in the
number, singularity, and variety of incidents contained in it, proves in
a most remarkable manner that truth is indeed stranger than fiction.
Nevertheless, if no more has been done than to rescue from oblivion the
names of some persons who have played certainly not an unimportant part
in the history of their country, our labours and patient researches,
carried over a period of many years, will not have been in vain. Indeed
we may truly say that the amount of work and time necessary to search
among old records, public or private, can scarcely be estimated unless
by those who are in the habit of doing it. With ourselves this labour
has been no easy task, when our other work of a professional nature,
public and private, is considered; but as it has been an occupation of
love, in which our heart was engaged, it has enabled us to accomplish
what would have been otherwise a task of no ordinary nature.
In conclusion, we have to remark that, as this is the
first occasion we venture before the general public, we throw ourselves
upon their indulgence, not only for some errors of omission and
commission, but for the dry nature of the information we have had to
convey in some parts of the work. This could not be avoided, and we feel
sure that our appeal will not be in vain.
Bryanston Street, London,
January 1874.
Volume 1 |
Volume 2
