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John had two sons, Alexander and Herbert . They both built on their father's business although they had very different characters. They were taught by their father and worked alongside each other from an early age. Alexander was mercurial, eccentric and something of an exhibitionist whilst Herbert was more staid and much less flamboyant. For all that, the brothers were very close and worked successfully alongside each other for most of their lives, each complementing the other. Indeed, it is very difficult to successfully attribute photographs to one or other of the brothers. |
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James Gibson, Alexander's son was born in 1901. He, too, joined the family business young but after some years spent as the junior felt unable to work in the shadow of his increasingly eccentric father. They quarrelled and, eventually, Alexander retired and moved away to Shropshire leaving James to assume the mantle in Scilly. |
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James Gibson became one of the most qualified in this family of photographers, winning awards for his pictures from The British Journal of Photography amongst others. He was known as a craftsman and was also a successful photo journalist. |
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His son, Frank Gibson, was born in 1929 and joined the family business at 16. History repeated itself, father and son were unable to work together and Frank left Scilly for a while to work in Cornwall. He |
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Frank expanded the business, building up postcards, books and souvenirs to supplement the photography. He has now been taking pictures on Scilly for 55 years and is still going strong. He will still be first on scene when a shipwreck looks likely and always has his eye on the next photographic opportunity. |
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Sandra, his youngest daughter, now lives in Scilly with her family and is learning and working alongside her father, thereby continuing the family tradition and keeping the photographic archive intact -- and in Scilly, where it belongs. |
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A more detailed account of the family history is given in the book Century of Images written by Rex Cowan with a foreword by John le Carre. It is available by mail order at a cost of £22 including postage and contains 120 pictures from the family's collection. |
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