Charles Gibb was born on July 29, 1845, in Montreal, Quebec.

He was a horticulturist. Poor health led Gibb to seek an outdoor occupation and in 1872, he established extensive orchards at Abbotsford, Quebec, to study fruit culture and arboriculture, and to test plant material from abroad. He was a leading figure in the Montreal Horticultural Society and Fruit Growers' Association, besides being a patron of the Art Association of Montreal and a benefactor of McGill University. In 1882, he traveled through northern Europe and Russia collecting seeds and plants on his first foreign exploration in search of fruit varieties that could be used in improving Canadian strains. He published a number of articles on fruit growing, the introduction of Russian apple strains into our fledgling breeding programs, and the results of his own Abbotsford trials of exotic ornamentals and fruits. He was well-known among North American and European pomologists. He is the author of the report “On the Russian Apples Imported by U.S. Department of Agriculture in 1870" (1884).

He died on March 8, 1890, in Cairo, Egypt.