GIBSON, James, merchant, born in London about 1690; died in the West Indies in 1752. In early youth he entered the British army and served in Barbadoes, where he married a native heiress of Jamaica, retired from the service, and settled as a merchant in Boston, Massachusetts. In 1745 he joined the Louisburg expedition to Cape Breton with 4,000 New England colonists, under Sir William Pepperell, and as "gentleman volunteer" served at the siege, was present at the surrender of the French garrison, and superintended the removal of the prisoners to France. In 1748 parliament voted him £547,155 as a reimbursement of his expenses, but this money was never paid. He returned to Boston, engaged in the West India trade, and died while on a visit to the islands. In 1745 he published an account of the Louisburg expedition, which was republished by a descendant under the title of "A Boston Merchant of 1745 " (Boston, 1847).