Introduction
Charles Gibbon (1843–1890) was a British novelist.
Life
Gibbon was born in the Isle of Man, and moved with his parents to Glasgow at an early age. After receiving elementary education there, he became a clerk, and then before age 17 found a position on a local newspaper. During Charles Kean's visit to Glasgow in 1860, Gibbon wrote an account of his acting, and Kean made his acquaintance. A year or so later Gibbon moved to London.
Ill-health compelled Gibbon to spend his later years on the east coast of England, and he died at Great Yarmouth on 15 August 1890. He was married and left a family.
Works
A three-volume novel Dangerous Connexions was published by Gibbon in 1864, which had a second edition in 1875. The Dead Heart followed in 1865, and Gibbon went on to publish some thirty novels, including were Robin Gray (1869; other editions 1872 and 1877) and For Lack of Gold (1871; other editions 1873 and 1877). Gibbon's Scottish novels have been compared with those of William Black. Ten novels featured "Detective Dier", a character based on Edmund Reid, who was a friend of Gibbon's.
Gibbon also edited The Casquet of Literature (6 vols. 1873-4), and wrote a Life (2 vols. 1878) of George Combe, in whose theories he was interested.