Robert Hibbert (25 October 1769 – 23 September 1849) was the founder of the Hibbert Trust.
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Biography
The third and posthumous son of John Hibbert (1732–1769), a Jamaica merchant, and Janet, daughter of Samuel Gordon, he was born in Jamaica; hence he spoke of himself as a Creole. His mother died early.
Between 1784 and 1788, he was a pupil of Gilbert Wakefield at Nottingham. He entered Emmanuel College, Cambridge, in 1788, and graduated B.A. in 1791. At Cambridge he formed a lifelong friendship with William Frend, the social reformer.
At a later period (1800–01), when Wakefield was imprisoned in Dorchester for writing a political pamphlet, Hibbert, though not wealthy then, sent him £1,000.
In 1791, Hibbert went to Kingston, Jamaica, as partner in a mercantile house (a trading partnership, Hibbert, Purrier and Horton) founded by his cousin Thomas (not to be confused with his father's eldest brother, Thomas Hibbert). Another cousin, George Hibbert, son of another Robert Hibbert (1717-1784) was one of the principals of the West India Dock Company which instigated the construction of the docks of that name on London's Isle of Dogs.
Returning to England in about 1803, he bought the estate of East Hide (now called Hyde), near Luton, Bedfordshire.