Edward Stanley Gibbons

Edward left school at the age of 15 and worked for a short while in the Naval Bank, Plymouth, before joining his father's business after the death of his elder brother.

Neighbours became curious of the number of women entering the premises and reported it to the local Watch Committee, however they investigated and concluded that nothing unusual was happening there.

In 1887, Gibbons married his assistant and housemaid, Margaret Casey and in 1890, sold his business to Charles Phillips of Birmingham for £25,000 and retired.

It was an impressive residence in a fashionable area of suburban London, near the banks of the Thames, alongside Marble Hill House (built by George II for one of his mistresses).

During Gibbons' retirement he made numerous trips overseas, mostly for pleasure, but also for business, buying stamps for his old company.

A newspaper cutting headed "Honolulu, January" was also found in the scrapbook, referring to a resolution to burn stocks of obsolete Hawaiian stamps.

The scrapbook contains a duplicate passport issued at Rangoon in December 1901 for a Mrs Gibbons, his third wife, Georgina.

The Society of Genealogists archive contains a newspaper article titled Reminiscences of a Stamp Collector - Mr Stanley Gibbons (sic) in Colombo.

Made in July 1912, from his address, 'Selsey', 63 Stanthorpe Road, Streatham, his estate is left to 'a dear friend', Mabel Hedgecoe.

[3] His death certificate gives his occupation as "A retired Stamp Collector" and the cause was stated as "Coma, Haemorrhage of the Brain, secondary to Extensive Valvular Disease of the Heart with Atheroma of Endocardium and the Blood Vessels accelerated by enlarged prostate".

[1] Gibbons' string of wives, all but one of whom died relatively young, his swift remarriages, and his background in pharmacy, have given rise to suspicions of ill-doing on his part, but there is no evidence for that.