GIBBON, Robert (1613-81), of Rolvenden, Kent.

The Gibbon family had been settled at Holes in Rolvenden since the fourteenth century, without ever attaining a prominent position within the Kentish gentry.26Gibbons, Gibbons Fam. Notes, 34. That the family was puritanically inclined by the late sixteenth century is evident from the names chosen by Gibbon’s grandfather, Robert Gibbon (d. 1618), not least for one of his younger sons, Freegift Gibbon, the father of Robert Gibbon MP.27Canterbury Cathedral Archives, A26/21; Rolvenden par. reg.; Gibbons, Gibbons Fam. Notes, 35. Little is known about the nature and religious tone of Robert Gibbon’s education, although it is likely that as a younger son himself, he was apprenticed into a trade. Gibbon certainly made little impression on the public life of the county before the civil war, other than as churchwarden of Staplehurst parish in 1638.28Staplehurst par. reg.

Gibbon’s emergence on to the national political stage in the 1650s reflected the reputation he acquired as a parliamentarian soldier in the 1640s. By the beginning of 1643 Gibbon was a captain in the regiment of horse commanded by Sir Michael Livesay* in the army of Sir William Waller*, and he fought at the siege of Chichester; he remained with the regiment when Livesay was replaced as colonel by Henry Ireton* after the creation of the New Model army, and may have fought at Naseby.29BHO, Cromwell Assoc. database; Firth and Davies, Regimental Hist. 116; SP28/130, unfol. In the summer of 1647 he was promoted to the rank of major, replacing George Sedascue, but the major appointed to be governor of Exeter in June was more likely to have been Thomas Gibbons*.30Firth and Davies, Regimental Hist. 119, 519; Wanklyn, New Model Army, i. 84, 96; LJ ix. 238a. During the royalist threat in the spring of 1648 Gibbon was involved in the successful campaign to raise the siege of Dover Castle, and to regain Canterbury for Parliament.31H. Cary, Memorials (1842), i. 437-8; Kingdomes Weekly Intelligencer no. 263 (30 May-6 June 1648), 964 (E.446.11); Rushworth, Hist. Collns. vii. 1136; Whitelocke, Mems. ii. 322. In June, he was involved in suppressing the rising at Horsham in Sussex, and in July he and Livesay were despatched to Kingston in Surrey, in order to suppress the forces under the command of George Villiers, 2nd duke of Buckingham, and Henry Rich, 1st earl of Holland.32CSP Dom. 1648-9, pp. 145-6, 154-7, 160-1, 163-5, 173; Whitelocke, Diary, 217; Firth and Davies, Regimental Hist. 120; Rushworth, Hist. Collns. vii. 1182. Gibbon was thanked for his service by the Derby House Committee, and ordered to return to Kent in order to protect the coastal defences.33CSP Dom. 1648-9, pp. 177, 179, 184, 187-9, 196. Almost immediately, however, he was required to assist in the siege of Colchester, only returning to the south coast in mid-August, when he was made governor of Rye.34CSP Dom. 1648-9, pp. 195, 206-7, 208, 241-2, 250, 253, 275-6, 289.

Gibbon supported the republican regime. Notably, he dissuaded his troops from joining the Leveller-influenced mutiny at Burford in May 1649, and arrested royalist agents.35Perfect Occurrences no. 123 (4-11 May 1649), 1029 (E.530.1); Firth and Davies, Regimental Hist. 123; CSP Dom. 1649-50, p. 514. Such service was rewarded in May 1650 with a commission to raise a regiment of foot, which provided forces for Scotland in 1650 and 1651, and for the garrison at Oxford in May 1651, and which may subsequently have fought at the battle of Worcester.36CSP Dom. 1650, pp. 163-5, 167, 213, 284, 298, 312, 323, 347, 350, 386, 394, 461, 475, 554, 567, 595, 597; 1651, pp. 29, 39, 188, 306, 312, 331, 338, 347, 475, 526, 539, 541, 571; Firth and Davies, Regimental Hist. 381. During this period Gibbon himself may have remained in Kent, where he began to receive nominations to local commissions, and he certainly expressed concern about the impact on the defence of Kent of the fragmentation of his forces.37C231/6, p. 210; CSP Dom. 1650, p. 451; 1651, p. 174: SP18/11, f. 158. The regiment was disbanded in October 1651, and Gibbon himself does not appear to have been employed until the Rump was expelled in 1653.38CJ vii. 24; CSP Dom. 1651, p. 475; Firth and Davies, Regimental Hist. 325. It is unknown whether this reflected disillusionment with the regime, based perhaps upon his religious radicalism. His sometime chaplain, Joseph Cobb, was a Congregational preacher, and later a conventicler, and Gibbon was also perceived to have been close to John Durant, the leading Congregational minister in Kent, although there is no evidence that he was formally a member of the latter’s church.39Worc. Coll. Oxford, Clarke MS LIII, unfol.; Calamy Revised, 124; Add. 44846, f. 56v; Canterbury Cathedral Archives, U37. During this period, Gibbon appears to have concentrated on the improvement of his estate, with the purchase of the manors of East Farleigh, Dachurst, and Penshurst, all from the state.40Gibbons, Gibbons Fam. Notes, 36. He also acted as agent for the soldiers of his regiment, in purchasing property in Canterbury with their debentures.41E121/2/11/51. Such transactions evidently brought Gibbon into tension with other prominent parliamentarians in the county, until their differences were resolved by November 1653, through the mediation of William Kenwricke* and William Sydenham*.42Stowe 185, f. 30.

Such ‘healing and settling’ may have encouraged Gibbon to re-engage with public affairs. In 1654 he sought to secure election as MP for Canterbury, by being made a freeman before the election. However, like other prominent county figures, both civilian and military, Gibbon was passed over in favour of townsmen.43Canterbury Cathedral Archives, A/C4, f. 370v. Gibbon also returned to military service, and sometime before November 1654 was made governor of Jersey.44CSP Dom. 1654, p. 577; 1655, p. 232. But Gibbon did not leave for the Channel Islands until April 1655, remaining instead in Kent in order to raise troops and to secure the county against the threat of another insurrection.45CSP Dom. 1655, pp. 88, 93. He reported to Oliver Cromwell* in March 1655 that

there hath not been such a union amongst honest men of several judgements in these parts for these many years, for they came in generally and were very loving and friendly, and resolved to stick together against the common enemy.

None the less, Gibbon also stressed the need to ensure that the financial burden of such troops fell squarely on the ill-affected within the region.46TSP iii. 282. Likewise, he told Secretary of state John Thurloe* that he found ‘the honest people willinger to engage against the common enemy than was expected’, while stressing that settling the militia in experienced hands would ‘conduce much to the peace and safety of the county’.47TSP iii. 291.

Gibbon’s governorship of Jersey proved highly controversial, and his methods generated hostility among the local community. His job was made difficult not only by the lack of money and ships with which to organise the island’s defence, about which he expressed concern upon his arrival, but also by the disorderliness and disobedience of his soldiers. Within weeks of his arrival, Gibbon professed to Cromwell that ‘I dare say there is never a three garrisons in England have the trouble I have here’.48CSP Dom. 1655, pp. 161, 309, 315; SP18/97, f. 80; TSP iii. 512; iv. 258.

The most pressing concern facing Gibbon in his first few months in Jersey centred on the fractious nature of some of the prisoners for whom he was responsible. The most difficult of these was undoubtedly the Leveller leader, John Lilburne.49CSP Dom. 1655, p. 126. In June 1655 Gibbon informed Cromwell that his lengthy conversations with Lilburne had been ‘but to little purpose’, reporting that ‘he is the very same man as formerly’. Lilburne evidently protested that ‘he will own none for his liberty but by the way of the law’, and Gibbon sought to rid himself of his troublesome charge. He proposed that ‘the likeliest way to bring his spirit to be meek and quiet’ would be to remove Lilburne to a prison on the mainland, ‘that some of his soberest and wisest friends might come to him and deal with him by arguments and persuasions one after another’. Gibbon also claimed that Lilburne ‘is more trouble than ten such as [John] Ashburnham*’ – a reference to one of his royalist prisoners.50TSP iii. 512. Gibbon was suspicious of Lilburne and, fearing that any visitors would smuggle papers off the island, he met the latter’s ‘ill language and threatenings’ with close imprisonment. Gibbon was also frustrated that Lilburne subsequently refused an offer of liberty from restraint, ‘that so his spirit may be a little qualified’, declining to be accompanied at all times by a keeper – ‘a God at his heels as he calls it’.51TSP iii. 629. That Gibbon feared Lilburne’s influence on the local community is evident from his subsequent claim to have arrested a number of disaffected islanders who were ‘levellingly stubborn’.52TSP iv. 258.

It was Gibbon’s treatment of the islanders, however, which generated the greatest controversy. As early as August 1655 a petition was presented to the protectoral council, opposing plans to make Gibbon a commissioner for compounding with local delinquents, and in the following month the council’s president, Henry Lawrence I*, advised Gibbon to proceed without rigour in such matters.53CSP Dom. 1655, pp. 306, 345-6, 399, 403; 1655-6, pp. 6, 231, 290. However, the question of Gibbon’s treatment of suspects remained a prominent aspect of official correspondence in the months which followed.54CSP Dom. 1655-6, pp. 13, 114, 132, 531; 1656-7, pp. 19, 47, 61-2, 160, 590. Moreover, Gibbon’s attempts to impress seamen in early 1656 led to concerted opposition from the locals, who claimed not to be liable to such measures, and Gibbon’s heavy-handed tactics resulted in a violent confrontation.55Add. 18986, f. 222; CSP Dom. 1655-6, p. 171.

It is unclear whether it was unease regarding Gibbon’s methods, or merely the prospect of new parliamentary elections, which brought about his return to England in the summer of 1656. Gibbon was certainly considered to be a supporter of the ‘court’ in the Kent elections, and he may have worked closely with the local major-general, Thomas Kelsey*, although if he sought a seat for himself he was disappointed.56TSP v. 308; CSP Dom. 1656-7, p. 413. Thereafter, he combined his governorship of Jersey with command of a new regiment of foot.57TSP v. 398; CSP Dom. 1656-7, pp. 115, 129, 139, 176, 245; HMC 8th Rep. pt. 1, p. 94b. This was originally created for the defence of the Kent coast, although by the autumn of 1657 it had been despatched to Flanders to assist in the defence of Mardyke against possible Spanish and Dutch attack.58CSP Dom. 1656-7, p. 176; TSP v. 657, 714; vi. 484; Clarke Pprs. iii. 119. Gibbon’s forces remained there until at least April 1660, although he himself probably spent more time with those of his troops who remained in England, evidently provoking resentment from the towns, such as Rye and Sandwich, where they were quartered.59TSP vi. 550, 676-7, 805-6; vii. 179, 475; Clarke Pprs. iii. 129, 151, 152, 158, 171; CSP Dom. 1657-8, p. 254; 1658-9, pp. 31, 96, 115, 119, 179, 219, 221, 248, 467, 576; Add. 18986, f. 354; Bodl. Tanner 51, f. 86; E. Suss. RO, Rye 47/155/9; E. Kent RO, Sa/AP5; HMC 13th Rep. iv. 230. Indeed, while Gibbon remained de facto governor of Jersey, he probably spent little time there after the summer of 1656. He was clearly active in Kent in 1658, particularly in relation to the investigation of royalist plots, and in the arrest of cavalier grandees, like the duke of Buckingham.60CSP Dom. 1657-8, pp. 124, 323; 1658-9, pp. 117, 579; TSP vii. 111, 344.

Gibbon’s prominence within Kent gained him a seat in Richard Cromwell’s* Parliament, as one of the Members for Canterbury, having had his freedom confirmed on 28 December 1658.61Canterbury Cathedral Archives, A/C5, f. 9. The only evidence of Gibbon’s attendance in the House Commons, however, came during a debate on the face of Major-general Robert Overton, a prisoner in Gibbon’s custody in Jersey, in which he promised that his deputy would ensure Overton’s return to London.62CJ vii. 597; Burton’s Diary, iii. 49.

Whether or not Gibbon ever returned to Jersey is unclear, and it is likely that after the dissolution of Parliament in April 1659 he merely returned to Kent.63HMC 13th Rep. iv. 233. The future of both his regiment and the island had been under discussion since late February, and his governorship apparently came to an end after the recall of the Rump Parliament, when he was eventually replaced by Carew Ralegh*.64CSP Dom. 1658-9, pp. 287, 372; 1659-60, p. 10; Worc. Coll. Oxford, Clarke MS LII, f. 27 (2nd foliation). It is likely that this decision was related to the articles of impeachment composed by the islanders at this time, and which appeared in print on 13 July, drafted by those supporters of the restored Rump who alleged that Gibbon was one of the ‘notorious enemies to that happy restoration’.65Articles of Impeachment Exhibited Against Colonel Robert Gibbons (1659), sig. A2 (E.989.20). Gibbon’s accusers wrote of ‘the heavy yoke of their present oppressors’, and alleged that he had acted ‘contrary to the ancient charters and privileges’ of the island, to his own advantage.66Articles, sig. A2, 3. They charged him with meddling in local commerce, by issuing irregular licences for the wool trade, and by keeping poor records in order to favour himself and to satisfy his ‘insatiable avarice’.67Articles, 3-4. They alleged too that he charged money for passes to travel, thus ‘fleecing the poor inhabitants’ and those involved in trade, and that he acted tyrannically in arresting local farmers and charging for the release of their property. They concluded that he had ‘no other respects, or care, but to advance his particular gain and profit’.68Articles, 4-5. Gibbon’s enemies claimed that he had received benefits worth £2,000 on top of his salary, for which he had failed to submit accounts.69Articles, 6. Gibbon was also accused of ignoring juridicial procedures and the rules of war, by imprisoning local inhabitants according to his ‘arbitrary will’, and by treating them ‘at his will and pleasure’, and his opponents also revived old claims regarding his attempts to impress locals, and his ‘inhumane’ behaviour as a commissioner for compounding.70Articles, 9, 10, 11. Finally, it was suggested that Gibbon, recognising how his behaviour would be ‘represented in England’, endeavoured to impose strict limits on both travel and the post.71Articles, 12.

The truth of such claims is difficult to verify. Nevertheless, they repeat accusations which had been hanging over Gibbon since his first arrival in Jersey, and they would be echoed in subsequent suggestions that he retained composition money in his own hands.72CSP Dom. 1670, p. 645, 653. Moreover, there is also evidence to support the allegation that Gibbon was opposed to the restored Rump, and he played little role in public life during the first two months of the new regime. Subsequent events suggest that it was the civilian republicans whom he opposed, and by whom he was mistrusted, and his commission as colonel of a regiment of foot in mid-July perhaps reflected the resurgence of the army interest. Gibbon worked alongside Thomas Kelsey in Kent and Sussex in the summer of 1659, in the face of renewed a royalist threat which culminated in Sir George Boothe’s* rising.73Clarke Pprs. iv. 24; CSP Dom. 1659-60, pp. 29, 41-2, 50, 53, 61, 83, 111, 132, 168, 567; CCSP iv. 304, 347; Bodl. Clarendon 63, ff. 77-8; E. Suss. RO, Rye 47/161/1-3; HMC 13th Rep. iv. 234. When the army interrupted the Rump’s proceedings in October 1659, Gibbon sided with Kelsey and the army faction, and in early December he and John Disbrowe* led a force aimed at securing Portsmouth.74CCSP iv. 478.

Despite such activity against the Long Parliament, Gibbon remained in military service until after the Restoration. He was named as a militia commissioner in Kent in March 1660, attending at least one of their meetings, and he was still commanding a regiment in the following month.75Add. 42596, ff. 8-v; Worc. Coll. Oxford, Clarke MS LII, f. 79. Indeed, when Charles II passed through Kent upon his return to England in May 1660, it was Gibbon who greeted him at Rochester, with ‘a most dutiful and loyal address’ from his regiment, and who provided lodgings for the royal party at his own house.76Ludlow, Mems. ii. 273-4; Baker, Chronicle (1665), 777; Mercurius Publicus no. 22 (24-31 May 1660), 349-50 (E.183.21). Such pragmatism on Gibbon’s part underpinned his appointment as governor of Deal Castle in June 1660, and his retention of his own regiment, even if only until the following August, when it was given to the duke of Buckingham, whom Gibbon had once arrested.77Firth and Davies, Regimental Hist. 519-21; Wanklyn, New Model Army, ii. 164; Worc. Coll. Oxford, Clarke MS LIII, unfol.; Whitelocke, Diary, 612. Thereafter, however, he played no part in military affairs, or in local administration, retiring instead to live with his second wife’s family at Beckley in Sussex. Gibbon continued to face allegations of financial impropriety in relation to his troops’ pay, and it was even suggested that he entered himself as a prisoner in king’s bench in 1663 to avoid paying money owed to them.78E. Suss. RO, Rye 47/164/6; HMC 13th Rep. iv. 236; CSP Dom. 1661-2, p. 597; 1663-4, p. 187. Gibbon was resident at Beckley when he wrote his will in May 1681 and was buried, as he had requested, in Rolvenden church at the end of the same month. He was succeeded by his eldest son, John Gibbon, a London merchant.79PROB11/367/118; Rolvenden par. regs. No other member of his immediate family is known to have sat in Parliament.