George Hibbert

George Hibbert (13 January 1757 – 8 October 1837) was an eminent English merchant, politician, slave- and ship-owner, amateur botanist and book collector. With Robert Milligan, he was also one of the principals of the West India Dock Company which instigated the construction of the West India Docks on London's Isle of Dogs in 1800. He also helped found the Royal National Lifeboat Institution in 1824.

Family background

Like Milligan, Hibbert came from families made rich from cultivating sugar plantations in the West Indies. The Hibbert estates were in Agualta Vale, Jamaica, and Hibbert became Agent for the island in Great Britain [ [http://www.jamaicanfamilysearch.com/Samples2/Mslavea4.htm Colonial Papers 1816 - 1831 Slave Code F ] ] , eventually retiring from the post in 1831.

He was the first chairman of the West India Dock Company which promoted the construction of the West India Docks from 1800 to 1802, and was Member of Parliament (MP) for Seaford from 31 October 1806 until 5 October 1812. [ [http://www.angeltowns.com/town/peerage/scommons2.htm Leigh Rayment's Peerage pages: constituencies beginning with "S"] ]

Book collector

He lived for some years London, dividing his time between a house in Portland Place and another in Clapham in south-west London, where he accumulated a considerable collection of books, including Gutenberg's Bible on paper (now at New York), the 1459 Psalter on vellum (now at The Hague) and the Complutensian polyglot, also on vellum (now at Chantilly). When he moved from London in 1829, his book collection was sold at auction raising the then princely sum of £23,000. [A Catalogue of the Library of George Hibbert, Esq. of Portland Place; London: W. Nicol, 1829. see http://www.polybiblio.com/jahill/HillBibl-Selections92.0.html]

Botanist

Perhaps due to his planting interests in Jamaica, Hibbert became interested in gardening and botany. According to JCL Loudon's 1835 "Encyclopedia of Gardening": 'The collection of heaths, Banksias, and other Cape and Botany Bay plants, in Hibbert's garden, was most extensive, and his flower-garden one of the best round the metropolis." [http://www.gardenvisit.com/garden-designer/world-garden-design/636georgehibbertbotanicalgarden.htm] .

Hibbert funded various botanical expeditions, notably that of James Niven, an avid gardener and collector of plants, who was sent to the Cape region of South Africa in 1798. He remained for five years, sending home a ‘valuable herbarium of native specimens’ and new plants, including five new species of proteas – Hibbert’s passion [ [http://www.tobymusgrave.com/pdf/Out_of_Africa.pdf i history of SA planthunting ] ] . Niven collected seeds of "Nivenia corymbosa" which were sent back and grown at Hibbert's Clapham estate in London. [ [http://www.plantzafrica.com/plantnop/nivencorym.htm Nivenia corymbosa ] ] . Hibbert's gardener, Joseph Knight, was reputedly one of the first people to propagate Proteaceae in England [ [http://asgap.org.au/APOL25/mar02-14.html Short Cuts ] ] , and the genus 'Hibbertia' is named after him [ [http://www.anbg.gov.au/gnp/gnp10/hibbertia-empetrifolia.html Hibbertia empetrifolia - Growing Native Plants ] ] . Hibbert was also one of the first people to grow Hostas in Europe. [ [http://myhostas.net/db/view/%3Ci%3Eventricosa%3C/i%3E MyHostas Database: Info about Hosta ventricosa ] ]

Hibbert Gate

The Hibbert gate, situated at the western end of the West India Docks, was commissioned by Canary Wharf Group plc, and is a replica of the original gate that stood at the visitors' entrance to the West India Docks. The original 1803 gate was called the “Main Gate”, but became known as the “Hibbert Gate” after the model of the ship that stood on top of it. The "George Hibbert" was a barque built in London in 1804 [ [http://www.reach.net/~sc001198/ShipsG.htm ShipsG ] ] , used to import sugar, rum, cotton, coffee, and tropical hardwoods from the West Indies and later, c.1834 [ [http://home.overflow.net.au/~vicval/shipsA-I.htm Our Ships A-I ] ] [http://www.uow.edu.au/commerce/accy/staff/andrewwfolder/William%20Foster.pdf] , used to transport convicts to Australia). The archway of the original gate, which had a pair of tall wrought-iron gates, was large enough to admit carts and wagons onto the quays. It became an emblem of the West India Docks and formed part of the arms of the Metropolitan Borough of Poplar. Hibbert Gate and its flanking walls were dismantled in 1932 as its narrow archway impeded traffic. [http://www.visiteastlondon.co.uk/downloads/Leaflets/history.pdf]

RNLI

As a shipowner and chairman of the West Indies Merchants, Hibbert associated with philanthropist Sir William Hillary and Thomas Wilson, Liberal MP for Southwark, to help found the "National Institution for the Preservation of Life from Shipwreck" - an institution better known today as the Royal National Lifeboat Institution - on 4 March 1824. [http://www.athelstane.co.uk/ballanty/lifeboat/lboat23.htm] [ [http://www.douglaslifeboat.iofm.net/Sir_William_Hillary.htm Sir William Hillary ] ]

Hibbert's portrait was painted by Sir Thomas Lawrence in 1812 and by John Hoppner (c.1800).

Notes and references