Early Life
Henry Gipps was born c. 1681 at Charing in Kent, the son
1 of
Simon Gipps and
Anne Landman (or possibly Landsman). Henry was baptised on the 28
th of April 16810at
St Peter & St Paul in that town.
Career
Canterbury Archaleogical Society describes Henry as a "soldier turned stay-maker". This is echoed in
Brief Records2 (see quote below in
Family Life) which describes him as an erstwhile soldier established in the corset-making business by his wife's family.
Family Life
Henry married
Sarah Flint, of
Ashford, Kent on the 29
th of April 1716 at
St Alphege, Canterbury.
From
Brief Records2:
On April 29, 1716, [Sarah Flint] was married, at St. Alphege Church, Canterbury, to Mr. HENRY GIPPS, of Ashford, he being in his thirty-fourth, and she in her thirty-first year. Mr. Gipps is stated to have been son of the Rev. George Gipps, of Wye [I disagree - see footnote #1], but at that time a soldier—whether from attachment to military life, from misfortune, or early dissolute habits, is unknown. If from the latter, his character was reformed; still, our family were annoyed by the connexion, but, as love brooks no control, they purchased his discharge from the army, and placed himself and wife in business as corset-makers.
Henry and Sarah had the following children:
- Landman (or Lenman), bapt. 1717; died in 1728
- Henry, bapt. 1718, later of Saltwood in Kent, and who married Ann Andrews
- Anna Maria born in 1722
- Sarah, bapt. 1724 and who married Edward Mount
- Richard, born in 1726
- George, bapt. 1729 and who possibly became an MP (or maybe it it was his son, also George)
Death
There's a burial record for a Henry Gipps on the 13
th of February at
St Mary the Virgin in Ashford. This seems to be the one that online trees have picked as the right record. I note that Henry's son (also called Henry) married in 1756 and that at that marriage did not have his father as a witness, which lends support to a death date for Henry senior of 1755. That same date is given in the
Canterbury Archaeology pedigree.
From
Brief Records2
He died February 9, 1755, aged seventy-three, and was interred in Ashford churchyard, his broken headstone now forming part of the pavement in one of the footways. Mrs. Gipps, who survived her husband twelve years, died November 26, 1707, aged eighty-two, and on December 3 was buried in the graveyard ("Church Fields") belonging to the Episcopal Chapel at Deal.
Brief Records carries the following memorial inscription:
Here lies the remains of
HENRY GIPPS
who died the 9th day of February, 1755,
aged 73.
He left issue by Sarah
____ of ____
This detail too suggests a birth date of around 1682, again matching the son of Simon described above.
Footnotes
[1] There are records for a Henry, son of Symon and Anne Gipps, born 1681 at Charing in Kent. However, if we follow the pedigree from
British History Online, Henry's father would have been George (of Wye), not Symon (who is shown in that source as George's brother). A father called George is also described in
Brief Records (see footnote [2]) but a footnote there hints that the right father might actually have been George's brother Simon. The footnote references
Berry's Country Genealogies (Kent) which indeed shows that Simon Gipps' son married Sarah Flint.
The problem with Henry being the son of George (of Wye) is that the latter did not have any child called Henry. George of Wye and his wife Martha had John, bapt. 3 October 1680 and William, bapt. 22 Jan 1683. Some people have speculated that Henry of this page was the John bapt. in 1680 to George and Martha, but this feels to me like some gymnastics required trying to match the pedigree shown in
British History Online (ibid).
If indeed Henry was born in 1680 then he would have been 36 when he married, not 34 as quoted in
Brief Records (see Family Life below). If, instead, we go with the age of 34 when married, then that puts his year of birth closer to 1681 (matching the Henry son of Symon described above). This latter year of birth also corresponds with Henry being aged 73 when he died in 1755 (see Death below).
The final piece of evidence is that Henry's first son was called Landman. This makes complete sense if Henry himself was the son of Simon Gipps, who we know married Anne Landman.
[2]
Brief Records of the Flint Family, Benjamin Francis Flint, London (1856)
Abt 1681 - 1755 (~ 74 years)
[1] 
