John Watson Gibson
|
Sir John Watson Gibson OBE |
|
|---|---|
| Born | 1885 Middlesbrough, Yorkshire |
| Died | 1947 |
| Nationality | English |
| Citizenship | United Kingdom |
| Education | Middlesbrough School for Boys |
| Spouse(s) | Lilian |
| Engineering career | |
| Projects |
Queen Mary Reservoir Sennar Dam Jebel Aulia Dam |
| Significant design |
Phoenix breakwaters BISF house |
| Significant advance | Phoenix breakwaters |
Sir John Watson Gibson OBE (1885–1947) was an English civil engineer. He designed dams in England and in Anglo-Egyptian Sudan and port installations in England and Ireland. In the UK he is most notable for having designed a key part of the Mulberry harbours for the 1944 Normandy landings.
Gibson was born in Middlesbrough in 1885 and educated at Middlesbrough School for Boys. He was apprenticed to S Pearson & Son, with whom he assisted in the building of new concrete jetties at the docks in Southampton, Fenit in Ireland for access to Tralee, and the new King George Dock in Kingston upon Hull.
Having what was designated an essential skill, Gibson was refused permission to serve in combat with the British Army. The Army lent him to the Ministry of Munitions, for whom in 1916 he went to the United States as Director General of shell and gun supply. He returned to the UK in 1917 and became controller of Aircraft Requirements and Review. For his services to his country Gibson was awarded an OBE in 1918.
After the war Gibson specialised in reservoirs and water supply. In the 1920s he designed the Queen Mary Reservoir at Stanwell, Middlesex, which when completed in 1925 the largest water storage reservoir in the World. While working there he bought Stanwell Place, which came with 90 acres (36 ha) of land, and the adjoining Stanhope and Hammonds farms, which between them totalled 261 acres (106 ha).
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