In 1826, the Scottish immigrants William Gibson (1783-1857) and Alexander Keiller (1804-1874) joined up to found the Jute and Hemp spinning mill "Gibson & Keiller" in Gothenburg, Sweden. By 1830, the pair realized they needed a better place for the mill and found Jonsereds manor with the perfect place to build a textile mill.

In 1833 they began construction on the new spinning mill and the sail canvas weaving mill on the new site close by Jonsereds manor. After a fallout between Gibson and Keiller in 1839, Keiller moved back to Gothenburg and Gibson kept running the mill.

In 1848 Gibson bought out Keiller and reformed the company as "William Gibson & Söner"

W. Gibson & Söner cast nameplate on a spinning machine

The main business of William Gibson & Söner was the production of sail canvas for export to the USA and UK but they also ran "Jonsereds Gjuteri och Mechan-werkstad" (Jonsered's foundry and mechanical workshop) as part of William Gibson & Söner to manufacture machines for use in their own business and built several woodworking machines to manufacture shipping crates but they also manufactured several machines for the early mechanized woodworking shops in and around Gothenburg and for export to the UK and France in the 1850s.

William Gibson & Söner won a gold medal for the tempering process of their castings, one gold medal for single casting machine bases and one for unique innovations in woodworking machinery at the London fair in 1862 and due to high diversification of products, burlap, cotton transmission belts, carpet warp, washcloth, fire hose, farmers ploughs, gas plant equipment, cast iron castings, forging work, irons, coffee mills and woodworking machinery, it was decided in 1872 to reform to a limited company, Aktiebolag in Swedish. This was done in 1873 as Jonsereds Fabrikers AB.

Information Sources

• Johansson, Östen (1994). I Gibsons spår : om ett industrisamhälle i förvandling. Partille: Warne.
• Johansson, Östen (1987). På Gibsons tid : människoöden i ett brukssamhälle. Partille: Warne.
• Jonsered : en annorlunda värld : Jonsereds fabriker och samhälle är av riksintresse och har stora kulturhistoriska värden. Jonsered: Jonsereds hembygdsförening. 2004.
• Conversations with Jonsereds Hembyggdsmuseum
• Göteborgs stadsmuseum
• Swedish National Archives material on Jonsered and Gibson