H. de B. Gibbins

Henry de Beltgens Gibbins (1865-1907) was a popular historian of 19th-century England, whose books were best-selling books at the end of the Victorian period; his Industry in England came out in ten editions in fifteen years and was published internationally. On his father's side, he was from a family of Huguenots who moved from Hampshire to London in the late 18th century; his maternal grandfather Jean de Beltgens was a member of the House of Assembly in Dominica, West Indies. He was educated at Bradford Grammar School and at Wadham College in Oxford, where he was a Cobden medalist, and later was ordained and awarded the title of D. Litt. from University College Dublin. He was a master's assistant at Nottingham High School from 1889 to 1895, vice director of Liverpool College from 1895 to 1899, and then director of King Charles I School, Kidderminster. His final appointment in 1906 was director of the Episcopal University of Canada, but he resigned due to poor health and soon died at the age of 42. He was a prolific author specializing in the economic, industrial, and social history of England in the nineteenth century. Along with the books listed below, he edited Metuen's Social Issues of Today and Commercial series, contributed to Palgrave's Dictionary of Political Economy, and often wrote in reviews. He was married but had no children. His paternal grandfather, Samuel Gibbins (1808-1886), the captain of the carpenters company in London, also had a son, John George Gibbins, FRIBA, a famous architect in Brighton, whose descendants are archaeologist and writer David Gibbins.