The Clock Is Still Going

Full Name: John Gibson, also known as Jack.

Address: 7 Lower Gardiner Street

Unit: B Coy, 2nd Battalion, Dublin Brigade

Born: 29 July 1901 at 16 St Benedict’s Gardens, off North Circular Road

Parents: Hugh Gibson (a Labourer and later a Clerk) and Mary B. ‘May’ Owens.

Siblings: James, Jane (died 1916), Hugh, William and Sarah.

Military Service: None known apart from his part in the Custom House attack during the War of Independence service. No trace in Army Census or MSPC files online. However the membership list for his Coy shows he did join the National Army some time after his release from Kilmainham. His older brother James was also in the National Army when he married in November 1923.

Personal Life: John married Mary ‘May’ Byrne at the Pro-Cathedral 21 December 1921 – just 13 days after being released from Kilmainham. He was a 20-year-old Labourer of 7 Lower Gardiner Street. They raised a family but, apart from a son Hugh born in 1922, their children’s names are not known for certain. Jack later worked for many years with the Department of Posts and Telegraphs at the Distillery Road Depot. John Gibson died on 12 November 1979 aged 78, a married man, retired and late of 94 Church Road, East Wall. He was buried in St. Fintan’s Cemetery plot B146 St Assam’s Section. His widow May passed away in 1992.

Remarks: Early in life he also lived at St Bridget’s Road, Great Britain (now Parnell) Street, Lower Dorset Street, Hutton’s Lane (1911) and Hardwicke Place. In the 1930s he lived on Mountjoy Square.

He was detained in Arbour Hill and then Kilmainham Gaol where he made an entry in one autograph book kept by a fellow Fire Brigade Man. While Jack was still in captivity his father Hugh died on 22 August 1921.

Relatives: None known