right|thumb|Stanley Gibbons, the founder of the Gibbons catalogue and stamp dealers of the same name.
Edward Stanley Gibbons (21 June 1840 – 17 February 1913) was an English stamp dealer and founder of Stanley Gibbons Ltd, publishers of the Stanley Gibbons stamp catalogue and other stamp-related books and magazines.
Early life
Edward Stanley Gibbons was born at his father William Gibbons' chemists shop at 15 Treville Street, Plymouth, on 21 June 1840, owned a book containing stamps for exchange. These stamps included the Western Australia 1d. black and a 1d. "Sydney View" of New South Wales.
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. William Gibbons encouraged his son's hobby and allowed him to set up a stamp desk in the shop. Two years later, Gibbons decided to move to London to develop his stamp business and relocated to 25 The Chase, Clapham Common (South London).) In 1891, Phillips opened a shop at 435 The Strand, as well as keeping the office at 8 Gower Street.
In 1892, two years after he had retired from business, Stanley bought the property "Cambridge Villa" in Cambridge Park, East Twickenham. 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). Gibbons lived there until 1911. The house was demolished in 1960.
Overseas trips
During Gibbons' retirement he made numerous trips overseas, mostly for pleasure, but also for business, buying stamps for his old company. A scrapbook was discovered belonging to either him or someone close to him; it contained photographs and memorabilia. It related mostly to his travels. The scrapbook became divided, half of it is kept in the Society of Genealogists archive and the other half is in private hands.
In 1894, Gibbons witnessed the crash of the Orient Express at Tirnove in Bulgaria. A pencil drawing of the crash appears in his scrap book. A newspaper cutting headed "Honolulu, January" was also found in the scrapbook, referring to a resolution to burn stocks of obsolete Hawaiian stamps. Gibbons was present at the fire and described the experience as "sad". During this time, he was on his second world tour and was en route to Japan.
Margaret died on 23 November 1899 of cirrhosis