Career
Born in Heywood, Lancashire on the 15 March 1917, he left school to begin work before entering Western College, Bristol for training as a Congregational Minister. The turning point in his career came in 1949 when he joined the Student Christian Movement, working in Bristol. This meant he liaised with many churches and, becoming drawn to the Anglican tradition, he re-trained at Lincoln Theological College and took up a curacy at Street Luke"s Bristol.
His, however, was an educational vocation and in 1957 he became head of Divinity at Street Matthias Teacher Training College, Bristol, rising to Vice-Principal in 1962.
In 1964 Gibbs was appointed head of Keswick Hall College of Education in Norfolk. In 1968 he was appointed an honorary canon of Norwich Cathedral and in 1973 he was appointed suffragan bishop of Bradwell in Essex.
Three years later he replaced the more flamboyant Cuthbert Bardsley as Bishop of Coventry, eventually serving for nine years. He found a new home in the Hope Nursing Home in Cambridge where he died on 20 December 2007.
Mr John Gibbs (1917–1943)
The Revd John Gibbs (1943–1968)
The Revd Canon John Gibbs (1968–1973)
The Rt Revd John Gibbs (1973–2007).
