[1] 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.
[2] Poor health compelled Gibbon to spend his later years on the east coast of England, and he died at Great Yarmouth on 15 August 1890.
[2] Ten novels featured "Detective Dier", a character based on Edmund Reid, who was a friend of Gibbon's.
[3] Gibbon's book The Braes of Yarrow (1881) is a historical novel about Scotland after the Battle of Flodden.