Early Career
Gipps was born in 1791 at Ringwold, Kent, England, and was the son of the Rev. George Gipps. He was educated at The King's School, Canterbury, and at the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich.
In 1809 he joined the Royal Engineers and served in the Peninsular War as well as elsewhere in Europe (although he missed the Battle of Waterloo due to his posting in Ostend, Belgium where he was preparing fortifications).
In 1824 he joined the Colonial Service and served in the West Indies. He married Elizabeth Ramsay, the daughter of Major-General George Ramsay, in 1830. He and his wife had a son, Reginald Ramsay Gipps, who later became a general in the British Army.
In 1834, Gipps became Private Secretary to the First Lord of the Admiralty, Lord Auckland; and, a year later, he was sent to Canada as a Commissioner, together with the Earl of Gosford and Sir Charles Edward Grey, to examine grievances there. He was knighted, promoted to the rank of major, and returned to England in April 1837. He was appointed Governor of New South Wales on 5 October 1837, and arrived at Sydney on 23 February 1838.
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