1762–1790
College Green, c. 1766–74
6 Grafton Street, c. 1768–90
Son-in-law of John Ward (Boydell, Calendar).
Listed in the Dublin Directories from 1770 to 1773 as 'teacher and musical instrument maker, thereafter as 'musical instrument maker'. In 1771, an advertisement in the Dublin Chronicle also stated that he imported music and sold instruments (Pollard).
Flood stated that c. 1765 to 1775, Gibson 'devoted more attention to the guitar which was then all the rage' ('Dublin Harpsichord and Pianoforte Makers'). Rice suggests that the machine heads for the Cither-viol on the Sultana invention by Thomas Perry may have been invented by Gibson.
Gibson seemed to have close links with Cork musical activity. The Cork Evening Post in 1762 contained an advertisement for Phieas and George Bagnell who were accepting commissions for the construction of guitars by Gibson in Dublin (O'Regan). The Hibernian Chronicle in 1786 also contained an announcement that Gibson would visit Cork, reminding readers that he was an organ and harpsichord maker (Pollard).
He worked in partnership with Robert Woffington from 1775 to 1778. It is probably that he is also the Gibson of the 'Claget & Gibson' partnership.
[Dates and addresses differ according to sources: the Dublin Directories give the dates as 1766 to 1790. Flood ('Dublin Music Printing from 1750 to 1790') gives College Green from 1766 to 1774 and No. 6 College Green from 1774 to 1790. Carroll gives 'Gibson's Music Shop' Grafton Street in 1775 and No. 6 Grafton Street in 1777 (citing the Freeman's Journal and Faulkner's Dublin Journal respectively). Teahan gives the College Green address from 1770 to 1774 and 6 College Green from 1775 to 1790. Hogan gives 6 Grafton Street from c. 1774 to 1790. Doyle (citing the Dublin Directories) gives College Green in 1770 and 6 College Green from 1775. T. Lawrence (citing the Dublin Directories) gives College Green from 1766 to 1774 and 6 College Green from 1775 to 1790. Pollard gives College Green from before 1768 to 1774 and No. 6 College Green from 1775 to 1790. O'Regan gives the date of 1762 only (citing the Cork Evening Post).]
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Dublin Directories
Caulfield, Richard, Annals of St Fin Barre's Cathedral, Cork (Cork: Purcell & Company, 1871), p. 85
Teahan, John, 'A List of Irish Instrument Makers', The Galpin Society Journal, 16 (May 1963), 28–32 (p. 29)
Hogan, Ita Margaret, Anglo-Irish Music 1780–1830 (Cork: Cork University Press, 1966), pp. 102, 108
Boydell, Brian, A Dublin Musical Calendar 1700–1760 (Dublin: Irish Academic Press, 1988), p. 260
Boydell, Brian, ‘Ward, John’, Dublin Music Trade Card Index <http://dublinmusictrade.ie/card-index>
Last Update: 17-05-2018