WEBB’S
John Gibson, QC, died on 19 July 2009 in Wellington. Over 40 years, he had formed one of the finest collections of British Orders, Decorations and Medals found in New Zealand which focused on special interests in New Zealand, naval history, the fall of Singapore, the Black Watch and allied regiments, the Royal Household, and bravery and life-saving awards. In the early 2000s, he sold a large portion of this collection in London but retained the items relating to New Zealand. For more than 40 years, he was a member of The Orders and Medals Research Society (UK) and established friendships with leading dealers, collectors and researchers in New Zealand, the United Kingdom and elsewhere. In addition, he formed outstanding collections of commemorative medallions, military badges, helmet plates and plaid brooches, model soldiers and ships, which have been sold already.
Zealand before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour in December 1941. His father, an officer in the Johore Volunteer Engineers of the Federated States of Malaya Volunteer Forces, returned to Singapore and, after the fall of Singapore in February 1942, became a prisoner of war in Changi and, later, in Siam working on the infamous Burma Railway. He survived and, after a short period back in New Zealand, returned to work for the Colonial Office. He retired to New Zealand in 1952 and worked for the Lands and Survey Department; he died in Hamilton in 1973. John and I, friends for more than 40 years, enjoyed shared interests and I often undertook research for him. PHILLIP O’SHEA, CNZM, CVO New Zealand Herald of Arms Extraordinary
His collecting was influenced by his early years; John was born in what was then Malaya where his father worked as a surveyor for the British Colonial Office. John and his parents returned to New
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