Samuel Osborne-Gibbes
Sir Samuel Osborne-Gibbes, 2nd Baronet (27 August 1803 – 12 November 1874) was a British Army officer, plantation owner, Freemason and politician who spent most of his life abroad. Born in England, his parents died when he was young and he grew up on his Barbados sugar plantation before being raised in England by his uncle, Lord Colchester. He was christened Samuel Osborne Gibbes and later added the surname Osborne after inheriting the baronetcy in 1815, becoming Samuel Osborne-Gibbes.
He trained as an officer, serving in the 96th Regiment and as aide-de-camp to the Governor of Nova Scotia. He reached the rank of captain and studied at St John’s College, Cambridge in 1820. He inherited a Barbados sugar plantation and lived there from 1821 until the Slavery Abolition Act of 1833, after which he received compensation from the government and sold his plantations.
Osborne-Gibbes married Margaret Moore in Ireland in 1825. She died in 1847, and he remarried Anne Penny in 1848. Their son Philip Osborne-Gibbes, the heir to the baronetcy, died in 1850 in Multan at age 24; the title later passed to his son Edward.
After leaving England for good in 1850 with his second wife, he lived in Sydney, Australia, where he became Provincial Grand Master of New South Wales in 1855. In the same year he moved to New Zealand with his family and settled at Whangārei on 279 acres, building a house he named Springhead.
In New Zealand, he helped found the Waitemata Lodge, the first Masonic lodge in the Auckland region, and served as its first Master. He was appointed to the New Zealand Legislative Council in October 1855 and served until October 1863. His later years were troubled by financial difficulties, and he disposed of much of his land and assets. He died in Whangārei on 12 November 1874 and was buried at Christ Church, Whangārei; his funeral was conducted by the Bishop of Auckland, William Cowie. By that time he was one of the most senior Freemasons in New Zealand.
The dowager Lady Gibbes lived on until 1918, leaving two sons (one of them the subsequent baronet, Edward) and four daughters.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 18:24 (CET).