Gibbs G.W.R.
may I be the first to wish City and Suburban readers a very happy ses- quicentenary of the Great Western Rail- way. That masterpiece on rails (and quite respectable investment) dates from 1835, so that this new year will resound with commemorative whistling and hooting. There must be a place for the great banking family of Gibbs, who promoted it. They are still scattered across the City, though their bank has now been swallowed up by the Hongkong and Shanghai. In 1835 there were Gibbses on both the commit- tees (Bristol and London) which brought the railway into being, and it was in the Fenchurch Street offices of Antony Gibbs's bank that some unknown director left a mightier name than his own behind him. He opposed the original, uninspired plan to name the railway London & Bristol: 'Call it Great Western,' he said. British Rail, for its part, is concentrating on the Great Northern, electrifying the East Coast main line northwards from Hitchin. By 1991, we are told, they will reach Edinburgh. In less time, 150 years ago, Isambard Kingdom Brunel built a com- plete railway from London to Bristol.
Christopher Fildes
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