GRANDFATHER RAYMOND GIBBS
I knew very little initially about my paternal grandfather, Raymond Gibbs, other than the fact he was born in Newport, Monmouthshire, that he had been a Conservative agent in Devon and that he had tried to stop my father and mother’s love affair.
The latter may have been the reason that my mother largely air-brushed him out of the family history she relayed to me, filling it instead with many details of her father - my maternal grandfather, Lionel.
I knew that Raymond was one of five brothers and that when Lionel and another brother, Horace, emigrated to a new life in Alberta, Canada, he stayed in his home town later moving to Exmouth, Devon, where he became Conservative agent for the Honiton division.
I also knew that his full name was Percival Raymond Gibbs and that I would have had exactly the same name if my mother had not insisted on changing my first name to Peter.
But other than that I knew nothing more about him until the funeral of my cousin, Betty, in December, 2017, which took place in Great Windsor Park, where she had a grace and favour home as a result of being a retired secretary to the Queen’s Private Secretary, Robert Fellowes now Baron Fellowes.
Her niece, Sally Hayes, found in Betty’s belongings a silver salver that had been presented to Raymond in 1923 by the Welsh Association of Conservative Agents of which he had been chairman and she kindly gave it to me.
The find of the silver salver prompted me to trawl the internet and a search for Raymond Gibbs Newport led me to a book by John Ramsden, By Elections in British Politics.
This described the Newport by-election of October, 1922, which made history as the first to bring down a government - in this case the coalition of David Lloyd George.
According to Ramsden, “The Conservative campaign was thought to be the weakest, but was probably the best.
“As the official candidate of the local party, Reginald Clarry could call on Raymond Gibbs, the full-time local agent.
“Gibbs was a great asset for this sort of campaign since he was experienced both as an agent and as a local organiser: he had been Chief Recruiting Officer for Newport during the early years of the war.”
The campaign was further helped by the fact that the Liberal and Labour candidates were thought to favour temperance and my grandfather with his excellent contacts rallied support among the many pubs and clubs in the town.
The result of the by-election on October 18, 1922, was victory for Clarry with 13,515 votes, representing 40% of a 79.2% turn-out, and the Conservatives had a majority of 2,090 over Labour.
In the General Election, which followed before the end of the year, Clarry increased his vote to 19,019, representing 54.3% of an 82.1% turn-out, and his majority increased to 3,019.
So while Lloyd George did not know my father, as the old song might have put it, he would certainly have been more than aware of my grandfather.
Further revelations about Raymond’s past in Newport came courtesy of Nigel Young of Newportpast.com, who replied to my inquiry about photographs of my great grandfather, Joseph, with a page from Who’s Who in Newport in the 1920s.
This revealed that Raymond was educated in Sutton, Surrey, and later Oxford, before becoming manager for a firm of chartered accountants, Messrs Crawford W.Slade & Co, and later private secretary to Alderman F. Phillips, the Freemasons’ Provincial Grand Master of Monmouthshire.
The entry continued: “Practically at the very outbreak of war, Mr Gibbs turned very serious attention to the cause of recruiting in which he achieved some really splendid work.
“During the earlier stages of the great conflict, he addressed as many as two or three meetings in a night and in conjunction with Mr Gower, the Liberal Agent, he arranged most of the recruiting meetings – both in an out of doors.
“He was very early elected a member of the Newport Defence Committee and received a personal letter of thanks from Lord Kitchener.
“He was a member of the Newport Volunteer Training Corps from its inception and later on enlisted as a private in the Inns of Court (Devil’s Own) Officers’ Training Corps.
“After serving in this regiment, he obtained his commission and joined the 1st Monmouthshire Battalion and was afterwards attached to the regiment’s 4th Battalion, serving as an officer from January, 1916, until Februray, 1919.”
The report went on to reveal how Raymond shared his brother, Lionel’s political skills.
“Mr Gibbs has been Conservative agent for Newport for the last eight years, which important post he still holds. He has practically all his life been keenly interested in politics – he is an able speaker with a pleasing and fluent style of delivery and has done excellent work for the party with which he is so devotedly identified.
“He is a loyal Churchman and was sidesman at Maindee Parish church. He is a Freemason – a member of the Isca Lodge.
“Mr Gibbs for many years was an Association football player and captain of the old Newport team for two seasons.
“He was also a member of the Newport Athletic Club first lawn tennis team and captain of the Stow Park tennis club and at present is a director of the Newport County Association Football club.”
Two years after the momentous 1922 by-election - in May, 1924 - Raymond left Newport for Exmouth and his new role as agent for the Honiton division – a move which may have been influenced by the proximity of my grandmother, Winnie’s relatives in Devon.
My late cousin, Betty’s belongings also included an illuminated scroll, which had been presented to Raymond by the Honiton division’s Conservative Associations on December 11, 1935, when he retired as the agent to be succeeded by my father, Jeffrey.
The scroll listed all the village associations, the Conservative Clubs and the Junior Imperial League branches and recorded their appreciation of “the valuable services you have rendered to the Honiton division during your twelve years tenure of the Office of Secretary and Conservative agent during which time you were largely responsible for the successul result of four contested elections.”
Armed with this information, I again searched the internet and came up with a report from the Western Times newspaper of December 18, 1936, reporting his retirement ceremony in the Dolphin Hotel, Honiton, and mentioning the presentation of the scroll by Viscountess Sidmouth, President of the Women’s Council in the division.
She said Raymond gave them the greatest confidence and he showed tact and diplomacy in difficult situations – his sense of humour had always assisted them to see the bright side of things.
The MP, Cedric Drewe, was not present, but said in a letter that he and Raymond had worked together in complete harmony and that he could retire a proud and happy man, his work having achieved increased majorities.
Raymond gave a speech about personalities he had met and his experiences during his career and said he and his (second) wife, Marion, would be soon leaving on a voyage to Australia and New Zealand.
He said he had often spoken of the Empire during his 45 years’ work and now hoped to see a good deal of the Dominions.
In fact according to the Exeter and Plymouth Gazette, they set sail from Southampton on the P&O liner, ss Carthage, at the end of February, 1937.
Raymond and Marion later moved to an apartment in San Remo Towers, Boscombe, Dorset, from where he sent me a card for my first birthday on September 26, 1944 – which I found in my mother’s archives – the only example I have of his hand-writing.
Raymond died in February, 1945, aged 68, after being taken seriously ill just after Christmas the previous year.