Queensland Times, Ipswich Herald and General Advertiser (Qld. : 1861 - 1908), Tuesday 18 April 1893, page 6


Death of Mr. Robert Cribb. We regret to have to record the death of Mr. Robert Cribb, brother of the late Mr. Benjamin Cribb, of this town, which took place at Milton yesterday morning. The deceased gentleman was eighty-eight years of age, forty-four years of which have been spent in the colony, he having landed in Brisbane from the ship Fortitude. Of late Mr. Cribb was not so active as usual, and fears were entertained that it would not be long before he was called to '"cross the vale." On Monday night last, he sat chatting with his son, Mr. William Cribb, till about 11 o'clock. On going to his room, he was seized with a feeling of giddiness, and he fell to the floor. He was put to bed, after a fit of retching, and he passed away quietly on Sunday morning at 10 o'clock. He seemed to have been without pain after the first seizure, and, recognising that the end must be near, he several times remarked to his son ' I think I'm passing away." Mr. Cribb leaves a large family, extending even to the third generation. He was highly respected by all who knew him, and he was an energetic, affable old gentleman. His father was a merchant captain trading to Newfoundland and the Mediterranean, and on many occasions, took Mr. Robert and Mr. B. Cribb (then boys) with him on the journeys, and on one occasion they were wrecked on the ice off Newfoundland. From Pugh's Almanac we extract the following with regard to the deceased gentleman :--" He was born at Poole, Dorset, England, January, 1805. Was educated at a Lancasterian school in his native town in the early days of the system ; served his time as a baker, &c., and then left for London, where for twenty-two years he followed his calling. In January 1849, he arrived in Moreton Bay by the ship Fortitude, the first of three shipments of middle class immigrants sent in that year to this district through the patriotic and self-denying efforts of the late Dr. Lang. Shortly after his arrival the squatters made great efforts to get Moreton Bay separated from New South Wales as a Crown colony, wtth convicts, hoping thus to secure low rents and cheap labour, and the British Government were favourable to the design. Feeling that this would be destructive of the free public life to which they had been accustomed, he, with others, took an active part in the conflict which followed, rosulting in the victory of the popular cause, and, after nearly ten years' unremitting effect, in Separation, with a Constitutional Government. Before and at the time of Separation he represented East Moreton in the New South Wales Legislature,and consequently served in the first and second Parliaments of the new colony of Queensland, using his influence in behalf of local legislation generally, with special interest in securing the separation of Church and State, and the passing of the Real Property Act of 1861, which has proved so great a boon to the colony. During several sessions he endeavoured to obtain an alteration in the law of primogeniture, to permit marriage with a deceased wife's sister, and the emalgamation of the two main branches of the legal profession; all of which have since become law." The deceased gentleman was married twice, there being four children as the issue of the first marriage. These were Mr. J. G. Cribb, for many years in the Bank of New South Wales, in Brisbane, but who has now retired on pension; Mrs. E. B. Southerden, of Sandgate; Mr. Robert Cribb, for many years a member of the firm of Messrs. Cribb and Foote, but who died in1866, and Mr William Cribb, of Pine River. Humpybong. He was uncle to Mr. Ben. Cribb, of Brisbane, T. B. Cribb, Jos. F. Cribb, J. C. Cribb, and H. S. Cribb, of Ipswich. His eldest grandson was Mr. J. G. Cribb, jun.. M.A., formerly of the Brisbane Grammar School, but who distin-guished himself so greatly at the Sydney University some years ago, having passed with higher honours than anyone else at the University.