ABSTRACT
Christopher, the first of Orlando Gibbons’s sons to survive infancy, was about ten years old when his father died in 1625. On his mother’s death, in the following year, he probably became a ward of his uncle Edward. 1 The possibility that he nevertheless remained in London, maybe as a chorister of the Chapel Royal, is suggested by a letter of 2 July 1663, written by King Charles II to the University of Oxford. This states that ‘Christopher Gibbons, one of ye. Organists of Our Chapple Royal hath from his youth, served Our Royal Father and Our selfe’. 2 The court certainly took an interest in the boy’s welfare. A note in a Signet Office docquet book records the despatch of ‘A letter to Sr Robert Dallington kt, Governor of Suttons Hospitall in the Charterhouse, for Christopher Gibbons, Sonne of Orlando Gibbons deceased, to be admitted into a schollers place wch shall first happen to be void there. ꝑcured by Mr Secretary Coke. dated 20. Jan: 1626’ (i.e. 1626/7). 3 The entry is marginally annotated ‘gratis’. The Governors of Charterhouse approved Christopher’s election on 21 June 1627, 4 but records of admissions are lost, so there is no confirmation that he attended the school.
