At the Wesleyan Church last evening there was an unusually large congregation, it having been announced that the Rev. A. W. Bray would make special reference in his address to the late Mr John D. Gibbs, who recently died at the advanced age of 81 years.
The minister took for his text the words from Matt., xxv. chap., 21 v: ‘Well done, thou good and faithful servant,’ and paid a very high testimony to the work performed by Mr John D. Gibbs on behalf of the Congregational Church of this town, and referred to two complimentary addresses which had been presented to him, one dated 4th August, 1875, and the other 31st July, 1879, by the early members of what was then known as the Independent Church.
During the course of his sermon, Mr Bray read the following interesting biographical sketch of the deceased, which had been prepared by his son, Mr E. Gibbs : — James Dagley Gibbs, born Dec. 17, 1821; died January 3, 1905.
My father was born in Aylesbury, in the county of Buckinghamshire, England. His father died when he was but two years old, and after being at a grammar school for some time, he was taken, by his grandmother (on his mother’s side) and brought up on an old English farm until the age of 16, when he was apprenticed to Richard Scott, carpenter and wheelwright, of Fritwell, Oxford. After his apprenticeship he left for Western Australia in the ship Trusty, and landed at Australind in 1843 experiencing the ups and downs, the hardships and privations of the early colonists.[1]
He was twice married, and leaves behind him a family of eight sons and five daughters. He comes from an old Nonconformist family, his uncle, John Gibbs, championing the cause of the Dissenters in the disabilities under which they labored in those days, as well as being one of the leaders of the Liberal party in the county, and proprietor of the ‘Aylesbury News,’ which is still owned by his descendants. When taken by his grandmother he attended the village church and became a member of the Church of England, and when a boy officiated at the old barrel organ which gave forth the tunes regularly sung every Sabbath.
Before he reached his teens he secured a prize offered by the vicar for the best memorising of Scripture. He secured the prize by reciting the 119th Psalm. Though outwardly a Christian, he was not sure and certain of the ground of his hope until his fellow colonist (Mr. John Allnutt) explained to him the plan of salvation and was the means under God of leading my father to give his heart wholly to God, and enlisting himself in the service of the Great Maker. Mr. Allnutt started holding services and a Sunday school at Australind, assisted by Mr. Hough (an old Methodist) and by my father.
The work grew and was extended to Bunbury, and continued by them until the Colonial Missionary Society sent the Rev. Andrew Buchanan out to be the pastor of the congregations, gathered together by them. My father, in the little church at Australind, used to lead the singing with his flute, of which he was a first-class player. He walked and rode many miles to be a bearer of the glad tidings of the Gospel, and was punctual and steadfast in the performance of his religious duties.
For five years, up to the 31st July, 1879, he faithfully carried out the duties of a preacher in the Congregational Church of this town, and when he removed to Bridgetown in 1880 for nearly two years he conducted services regularly there, and on his return to Bunbury he assisted the Rev. A. Buchanan whenever asked to do so. Sometime before the Wesleyan Methodist Church started work in this town he had often spoken to me with admiration of the work of that church and stated that he would join in with them if they established a cause here. He became a foundation member of the present church and one of the trustees, and until infirmities crept upon him often took services in the church.
He was a pattern to his children in the home and regularly gathered them together morning and evening around the family altar. He was a lover of books, and gathered together only the lasting and the good literature, and it was his fund of anecdote and quotation which made me, his son, turn to the books which he had to satisfy my youthful curiosity which was aroused by him. His memory was bright to the end, and his faith in God increased with the years of his life.
When upon his death-bed he could exclaim ‘Bless the Lord, O my soul.’ And just before he breathed his last he gave his testimony to me that he was going home to God, to rest and heaven. The choir rendered appropriate music, singing ‘The Vital Spark’ and ‘What are these arrayed in white?’ while at the conclusion of the service Mr Grove sympathetically played the ‘Dead March in Saul.’
(Bunbury Herald, 9 January 1905)
[1] The Trusty arrived in 1842 & 1844, James Gibbs is not listed on either ship.