WG Gibson

William George Gibson was the son of Dr John Erskine Gibson, surgeon to William Scoresby's Arctic expeditions.  His grew up in the parish of Kirkmahoe, and after initially following his father into medicine, became assistant to Allan Anderson, a bookseller in Dumfries. After running his own bookshop, he decided to lease the Turk's Head Inn, Irish Street, Dumfries, where he established an 'Antiquarian Museum'.  Sadly the business did not prosper and it seems that to pay his debts he had to sell the collections from his museum.  A number of the items from this collection found their way into the museum of Dr T B Grierson in Thornhill.  At its dispersal in 1965 some of these were transferred to Dumfries Museum.  He subsequently became Secretary to Dr James Gilchrist, Medical Superintendent of the Crichton Royal Institution.  Both men were founders of The Dumfriesshire and Galloway Natural History and Antiquarian Society.  William Gibson became its first Treasurer at the Society's inaugural meeting in November 1862.  He was also active in The Mechanic's Institute, acting as Secretary and promoting exhibitions in 1865 and 1873.  His interests were varied and included natural history, magnetism, electricity, photography and geology.