[4] His Tory friends included Charles Kirkpatrick Sharpe, who dedicated to him his 1837 edition of a poem The Valiant Christian by George Gordon, 1st Marquess of Huntly.

[8] Gibson was neither a public speaker nor a writer, but as an organiser in the group, he played a "leading but backstage" role.

[1][9] Early in the history of the group, Gibson and others became involved in a theatrical feud between English actors appearing in Edinburgh, James Fennell and William Woods (1751–1806).

[10] Matters came to a head over roles in a 1788 performance of Venice Preserv'd at the Theatre Royal, Edinburgh, managed by John Jackson.

Henry Erskine sent a letter to the theatre manager, backing the claim of Woods to play Jaffier, signed by more than 180 others.

[1] Gibson commented that those who attended the Bastille dinner "formed the nucleus on which the liberal party of Scotland was founded".

[15] Writing of the Pittite repression of the 1790s, Henry Cockburn stated that it was hard to understand "how Thomas Muir could be transported and James Gibson not even tried.

These appointments were at the expense of "Melvillites", the place men of the influential Tory Robert Dundas, 2nd Viscount Melville.

[8] In 1821 Gibson set about uncovering the backers of the Beacon, a local Tory political paper that was making scurrilous attacks on Whigs.

[18] For the Edinburghshire constituency, before the reform of 1832, Gibson-Craig and his group supported Sir George Clerk, 6th Baronet as Member of Parliament.

[20][21] In relation to the freedom of the city of Edinburgh granted to Henry Brougham, who was born there,[22] Noctes Ambrosianae (vol.