Robert Gib of Carribber

Not the husband of Elizabeth Shaw, Countess of Crawford, and probably not of Elizabeth Schaw of Sauchie

This Elizabeth Schaw (sister of Sir Alexander Schaw of Sauchie) is said to have died in 1536:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Gibb_(courtier)_

He [John Gib of Knock] was a son of Robert Gibb and Elizabeth Schaw. His mother is sometimes said to have been the Elizabeth Schaw who a mistress of James V of Scotland and mother of James Stewart, Commendator of Kelso, but she died in 1536. He was however a kinsman of the Master of Work, William Schaw and Elizabeth Schaw, Countess of Annandale.

Biography

Robert Gibb or Gib (1490-1558) was a Scottish landowner and courtier.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Gibb_(courtier)_

His home and lands were at Carribber Castle near Linlithgow in West Lothian. The estate was on the banks of the River Avon next to Woodcockdale.[1] Robert Gibb inherited these lands from his father, also Robert Gibb who assigned him a reversion of the lands before witnesses at Linlithgow Palace in June 1541.[2]

Robert Gibb's work at court was concerned with the management of the royal stable, the king's horses, and his travel. Records of the royal court mention that he was a bought a "great coffer" for the horse harness and the horses' caparison cloths. He kept the accounts of payments to the blacksmith Thomas Sprotty, the metal worker Andrew Lorimer who made horse bits and stirrups, and for sharpening and refurbishing the king's swords and polearms called "Jedburgh staves", and for the horse and jousting armour made for the king by William Smeberd.[11]

The idea of "Rob Gib" and firm loyalty, seems to have become an ideal in Scotland, and his name appeared with an image of clasped hands on objects such as snuff boxes.[14] MacDonald of Kingsburgh gave a "Rob Gib" snuff box to Bonnie Prince Charlie.[15]

A recess in the corner of the roofless great hall at Linlithgow Palace was known as "Rob Gibb's chair", in connection with stories of the local laird and courtier.[16]

Marriage and family

Robert Gibb married Elizabeth Schaw, daughter of Sir James Schaw of Sauchie.

Their children included:[17]

1. James Gibb of Carriber
2. George Gibb
3. Robert Gibb, coroner of Edinburgh, (d. 1581).[18]
4. John Gibb (c.1550-1628) of Knock, a bedchamber servant of James VI and I
5. Patrick Gibb, a burgess in Linlithgow
6. Janet Gibb
7. Isobel Gibb
8. Elizabeth Gibb (d. 1595), servant of Anne of Denmark and wife of the courtier and tutor of James VI, Peter Young

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Dubious source

Extracted from “Life and Times of Robert Gib, lord of Carriber.”PDF page 223, page 183, page 184

ROBERT GIB, LORD OF CARRIBBER.

CHAPTER I.

The Scotch family of Gib was a branch of the de Guibe family of Brittany and Normandy that accom-
panied the invading army of William the Conqueror as sergeants-at-arms. One portion of the family settled in the western counties of England, whose name is now spelt Gibbs or Gibbes, the head of whom are the Baronets of Springhead, Barbados ; whilst the other migrated at or shortly after the Con- quest, northwards, into Scotland, it is presumed in the train of the de Carribber family, and settled with them in the county of Linlithgow, close to the town of that name, whence it spread into the neighbouring counties of Lanark, Kinross, and Fife, and afterwards into Aberdeen, Dumfries, and Ayr. In the Ragman Rolls 1 " Phelipp de Carribber " is mentioned as one of the Barons who swore fealty to Edward l., a.d. 1296, " de Counte de Linlescu." The castle and lands of Carribber are situated two and a half miles south-west of the town of Linlithgow.

The original name of de Guibe — which has been clearly traced in some of the early records of Nor- mandy and Brittany 2 — necessarily underwent various changes. In England it was transformed into Gybbe, Gybbes, Gibbes, Gibs, Gibes, and Gibbs, the most numerous being now the last named. In Scotland the name was variously spelt, more in accordance with its French pronunciation, Guib, Gyb, Gibe, Gibbe etc...The family of Gib is one of the oldest in Scotland, for the name, together with its derivative, Gibson, 1 is found in many ancient records of that kingdom, and when Parish Registers were first commenced, in the beginning of the sixteenth century, the frequency of the name at that time would indicate the existence of the family at least three or four centuries before then, chiefly in the counties of Ayr, Dumfries, Fife, Lin- lithgow, and Lanark.

Robert Gib the son of Gib of that Ilk, the eldest son of Patrick Gib and Katherine de Carribber, (daughter of William de Carribber, by his wife, Elizabeth Balbirne) is considered in accordance with the general family history to have been born in or near the town of Linlithgow, where several generations of the family had been before him, somewhere about the year 1460, in the reign of James in., allowing him to have been a little over fifty when he was at the battle of Flodden in 1513, as an experienced man-at-arms, and stirrup-man to King James iv

Robert Gib married Elizabeth Schaw, a beautiful woman of rank and influence, of great accomplishments and rare graces, who had previously borne King James a son, known as the Lord James, who grew up and was made by his father Abbot of Kelso and Melrose, and who died in 1558. His mother must have been married to Robert Gib some time between 1532 and 1535, because we find ^ the following entry in the Treasurer's Accounts: " ^' April 2, 1532. Item, to Henry Kemp, quhilkis he debursit for the Kingis sone, gotten upon Elizabeth Schaw, and his nurise expensis^ xx lib." It is just possible that the child's mother looked after him until he became two or three years old, and when he was provided for she then married Robert Gib. That he was early cared for is shown by the fact that he had a charter on October 8, 1534, of the estates forfeited by the Earl of Angus^ and as he grew up he became a pupil of Greorge Buchanan, the scholar and the poet.

About the source

Extracted from “ George Duncan Gibb (MD 1846)” by David Crawford, link reprinted (with minor changes) in the Osler Library Newsletter # 130 (Summer 2019) PDF

In his later years, as well as publishing several papers on longevity and (under the pseudonym Carribber) a geology book for “young persons” dedicated to his daughter, Ricarda Cecilia (28), Gibb became obsessed with tracing his decent from the Scottish family of Gib and establishing his claim to the defunct baronetcy of Falkland and Carribber — a pursuit that resulted in some scorn. As noted in one of his obituaries, “unfortunately he left the beaten track he had so far trod so well and devoted the remaining years of his life in seeking after a bauble which, when found, was worthless” (8, p. 529). Gibb published two pamphlets on this genealogical research (29, 30) and a book in 1874 (31); sadly, these publications sullied his considerable reputation. The eminent Edinburgh historian Aeneas J. G. Mackay reviewed the book at some length for the literary journal Academy, link, noting,

"It is, under the disguise of a family history, an attempt to construct a family, and establish a title to a baronetcy which would at once be rejected if presented to any competent Court. (32, p. 417). There are a good many baronets, especially in Scotland, with dubious titles; but none of them, so far as we know, has fallen upon Dr. Gibb’s device of supporting them by the publication of biographies of imaginary ancestors. (ibid., p. 418)

References

• Gibb, George Duncan. The Life and Times of Robert Gib, Lord of Carribber, Familiar Servitor and Master of the Stables to King James V. of Scotland. 1874, London: Longmans, Green, and Co. ("By Sir George Duncan Gibb, Bart. of Falkland and of Carribber, M.A., M.D., LL.D".) (has errors)
• Mackay, Aeneas J.G. Literature [book review of Gibb's The Life and Times of Robert Gib, Lord of Carribber, Familiar Servitor ... 1874].The Academy, 1874, April 18. 5: p. 417–8 GoogleBooks
• George Duncan Gibb (MD 1846).” (2019) By David S. Crawford, Emeritus Librarian, McGill University. PDF Reprinted, with minor revisions, from: https://internatlibs. mcgill.ca/Gibb.htm
• The Baronetcy Of Gibb. (1868). The British Medical Journal, 1(376), 251-251. Retrieved May 29, 2021, from http://www.jstor.org/stable/25213963