William Gibson was a Canadian politician. From 1891 to 1900, he served as a Liberal

Liberal Party of Canada

The Liberal Party of Canada , colloquially known as the Grits, is the oldest federally registered party in Canada. In the conventional political spectrum, the party sits between the centre and the centre-left. Historically the Liberal Party has positioned itself to the left of the Conservative...

 Member of Parliament

Member of Parliament

A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...

 in the Canadian House of Commons

Canadian House of Commons

The House of Commons of Canada is a component of the Parliament of Canada, along with the Sovereign and the Senate. The House of Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 308 members known as Members of Parliament...

 representing the riding of Lincoln and Niagara

Lincoln and Niagara

Lincoln and Niagara was a federal electoral district represented in the Canadian House of Commons from 1883 to 1904. It was located in the province of Ontario. This riding was created from parts of Lincoln and Niagara ridings....

.

Born in Peterhead

Peterhead

Peterhead is a town in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. It is Aberdeenshire's biggest settlement , with a population of 17,947 at the 2001 Census and estimated to have fallen to 17,330 by 2006....

, Scotland

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

,the son of William Gibson and Lucretia Gilzean, he was educated in Scotland and came to Canada in 1870. Gibson was a contractor and engineer involved in the construction of the St. Clair Tunnel

St. Clair Tunnel

The St. Clair Tunnel is the name for two separate rail tunnels which were built under the St. Clair River between Sarnia, Ontario and Port Huron, Michigan. It was the first full-size subaqueous tunnel built in North America. -First tunnel :The St. Clair Tunnel Company opened the first tunnel in...

, the Welland Canal

Welland Canal

The Welland Canal is a ship canal in Canada that extends from Port Weller, Ontario, on Lake Ontario, to Port Colborne, Ontario, on Lake Erie. As a part of the St...

, the Victoria Bridge and several bridges on the Grand Trunk Railway

Grand Trunk Railway

The Grand Trunk Railway was a railway system which operated in the Canadian provinces of Quebec and Ontario, as well as the American states of Connecticut, Maine, Michigan, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Vermont. The railway was operated from headquarters in Montreal, Quebec; however, corporate...

. He operated a limestone quarry near Beamsville, Ontario

Beamsville, Ontario

The community of Beamsville is part of the town of Lincoln in the province of Ontario in Canada. It is located along the southern shore of Lake Ontario and lies within the fruit belt of the Niagara Peninsula...

 and was also president of the Bank of Hamilton

Bank of Hamilton

The Bank of Hamilton was established in 1872 by local businessmen in the city of Hamilton, Ontario, Canada under the leadership of Donald McInnes, the bank's first President. Like the other Canadian chartered banks, it issued its own paper money. The bank issued notes 1872-1922...

, the Hamilton Gaslight Company and the Keewatin Power Company.
On 11 February 1902, he was appointed to the Senate of Canada, a position which he held until his death in Beamsville at the age of 64.