Publisher's Synopsis
Gibson (1813-74) was an English surgeon, folklorist and antiquarian. He was born in Harrington, Cumberland, received medical training in nearby Whitehaven and studied at the University of Edinburgh. He started in practice at Allerdale, west Cumberland before moving to Coniston in 1843. In 1849 he took the position of surgeon to the Coniston copper mines but eventually found the work too heavy and in 1857 settled in Bebington, Cheshire where he remained in practice until poor health compelled him to retire in 1872. As a young man Gibson regularly contributed to newspapers and in later life wrote articles for various periodicals and antiquarian associations, being himself a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London. He was the author of The Geology of the Lake Country in Harriet Martineau's Guide to the Lake District, and wrote two books himself. The Old Man was published in book form in 1849 having previously appeared by chapter in the Kendall Mercury, and in 1869 he published The Folk-speech of Cumberland and Some Districts Adjacent which included a ballad in the Annandale dialect. This reprint includes the eight illustrations which accompanied the original edition.
