Henry Gibbons Journal

Journal [of Henry Gibbons (b.1798) of Loxborough House, Bledlow Ridge]

And the order of loose sheets has been determined by internal evidence.

<p>A scrapbook in the Carrington MSS (BRO/D/CN/D/5) compiled by Henry Gibbons in 1836 contains copies of letters published anonymously in the local press, referring to the Wycombe Corporation, but also covering the Board of Guardians and Disraeli. This volume came into the possession of Charles Walter Raffety, a local J.P. and land agent, who gave talks on the history of Wycombe. Some letters are referred to in Raffetys' notebook on the history of Wycombe (D/CN/D/5).</p>

Originally passed to North Yorks Library Service, the complete provenance of this volume is uncertain. It was one of an indexed series, the remainder of which are missing.

Authorship of the volume was also established by internal evidence. Henry Gibbons was resident at Loxborough House, Bledlow Ridge in the 1871 census where he gives his age as 77. He states in his journal that he was born above a shop on Tottenham Court Road, London and his gravestone at Bledlow Ridge dates this as 5th March 1798. During the period in question he lived with his second wife Sarah, with whom he had 10 children, all baptised at Bledlow. The Return of Owners of Land, 1873 shows him as owning 192 acres, presumably around Loxborough House, which was a former hunting box of the Dashwood family. His two daughters, Julia and Emma, are buried with him and both of his wives at Bledlow Ridge. After his death in 1891, it seems that the family moved out of the area.