Excerpt from The Garden, Vol. 19: An Illustrated Weekly Journal of Horticulture in All Its Branches; Midsummer, 1881

Calcutta. A start was made September 21, 1835, in e.m. Ship Jupiter. A short stay was made at Madeira to enable visits to be paid to certain gardens of note there.

Calls were also made at the Cape and elsewhere, Calcutta being reached in March, 1836. Here Mr. Gibson was introduced to Dr. Wallich, with the view of arranging the districts which it would be most advisable to explore, means of transit, dzc Preliminaries having been settled, a start up country was made on July The journey was not a pleasant one, his life being frequently in danger and provisions short. On arriving at the Khasya Hills, work was com menced in reality as soon as the weather would permit, and the first collection of plants was sent 011 August 17, 1836. By the end of December, 101 baskets of plants, generally Orchids, had been forwarded to Dr. Wallich at Calcutta, by whom they were sent on to England; and in addition to these a large collection of tree and other seeds was also sent home. On returning to Chatsworth, Mr. Gibson had charge of the exotic department.

In 1849 he was appointed superintendent of Victoria Park, some portions of which he designed and carried out, particularly around the lake and on the Pagoda Island. In 1850, Greenwich Park was placed under his superintendence, and in 1856 the formation of the shrubberies and planting at Battersea Park, then in a very rough state, were further added to his duties, until August, 1857, when he was appointed superintendent, and shortly after that Kennington Park, Chelsea Hospital, and the Military Asylum Grounds were added to his duties. In April, 1871, he was appointed superintendent of St. J ames's, the Green, and Hyde Parks, and Kensington, Gardens, &c., a post he held until shortly before his death, which took place early in 1875. Mr. Gibson is best known to the present generation 'of gar deners by his bold break into the common system of bedding out by the introduction of fine -foliaged plants, the use of which he had previously studied 1n various Continental gardens. His skill in selecting and arranging the various kinds used was widely admitted. The tenderness of many of the plants, and the fact that few had such means and such a situation for growing them, prevented the system from extending much, but its teaching cannot be lost, and it was a decided step onwards in the art of gardening. He made Battersea Park more interesting, so far as the space went, than any public garden near London, and no ordinary man could have done it. His death, long before' so strong a man should have done his work, was a serious loss to horticulture. Our personal knowledge of him was long and most agree able, and we can say that with men of his stamp the influence of our public gardens would be effective for good.

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