PLYMOUTH |
The Encyclopaedia of Plymouth History |
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Edward Stanley Gibbons was born at 15 Treville Street, Plymouth, in 1840. His father, William, was a chemist and druggist. His mother, Elizabeth, came from Portsmouth. There was an older brother, also William, and an older sister, Kate. Young William assisted his father in the shop. In 1851 the family had a young apprentice, Richard Body, from Pennycross, and a 14-year-old house servant. Stanley was sent away to Halloran's Collegiate School, after which, at the age of 15, he returned to Plymouth to a job with the Naval Bank. Another major event that took place in the year he was born was the introduction of the postage stamp. Although there only two British ones, the famous "Penny Black" and the "Tuppenny Blue", young Edward was fascinated by them and started collecting them, presumably for their post-marks as there were only two types of stamp available. In 1856 he left the Naval Bank and, following the death of his elder brother, joined his father in the shop as an apprentice. His father allowed him to use a counter fromwhich to sell his stamps and a side window in which to display them. This was probably the first stamp shop in the country but certainly in the Westcountry. This must have been a successful enterprise, especially when other countries started using the postage stamp as well. Within a short time he had an office above the shop and was able to employ a girl to look after the counter in the shop. By 1862 it is said that his turnover exceeded that of his father's. Then one day in 1863 two sailors walked into the shop and asked him if he was interested in buying stamps from abroad. They returned the next day with a kitbag full of triangular Cape-of-Good-Hope stamps that they had apparently won during a church bazaar. He gave five pounds, which was quite a sum in those days, sorted the stamps and then sold in packets of twelve. It was around this time that he chnaged his trading name from E S Gibbons to E Stanley Gibbons. When his father died, he sold the pharcmacy business and concentrated on selling stamps. In 1865 he produced his first price list. He even started to design stamp albums and other useful accessories for the ardent collector. Although he moved to larger premises in 1872, Gibbons' association with Plymouth came to an end in 1874 when he moved to London. At the time of the 1881 census, when he was 40-years of age, he was a widower living at 8 Gower Street, London, where he enjoyed the services of a cook, Miss Kate Deeves, and a housemaid by the name of Miss Ellen Gosby. When he retired in 1890 he sold the business to Mr Charles J Phillips, who turned it into a private limited company and in 1893 acquired the premises now known as 399 Strand. In retirement, Stanley Gibbons travelled around the world visiting many of the countries whose stamps he had spent years selling. Mr Edward Stanley Gibbons died in 1913.
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