William Gibson, 2nd Baron Ashbourne

Who was William Gibson, 2nd Baron Ashbourne?

William Gibson, 2nd Baron Ashbourne was born at 20 Upper Pembroke Street, Dublin, the son of Edward Gibson, 1st Baron Ashbourne and Frances Maria Adelaide Colles, granddaughter of Abraham Colles and niece of John Dawson Mayne.

He was educated at Harrow School, Trinity College, Dublin and Merton College, Oxford University. He succeeded to the title as 2nd Baron Ashbourne, of Ashbourne, co. Meath in 1913 and held the office of Justice of the Peace for County Dublin and County Meath. He was a founder of the Roger Bacon Society and Vice-President of the Irish Literary Society. he was the author of The Abbe de Lammenais and the Liberal Catholic Movement in France and was a contributor to The Dublin and other reviews. In 1896, he married Marianne de Monbrison, daughter of Henri Roger Conquerré de Monbrison of Paris, a French Protestant from the Languedoc. Marianne's sister was married to Count Edmond de Poutales. Lord and Lady Ashbourne left no children.

Gibson was an enthusiastic cultural nationalist and converted to Catholicism. He insisted in speaking only Irish, even in the House of Lords, and rather than speak English to those who didn't speak Irish, the only other language he would converse in was French. He adopted Irish dress and was a member of Conradh na Gaeilge.