(Herbert) Joseph Cribb was born in Hammersmith, London, in 1892, and became Eric Gill's assistant at the age of 14. The following year he started an official five year apprenticeship with Gill. He became a well-known sculptor in his own right, after Gill left Ditchling for Wales in 1924. Cribb is best known for his many church sculptures in south east England, including carving the 14 Stations of the Cross at St Matthew's, Westminster.
When Eric Gill moved to Ditchling in 1907, Cribb went with him as his apprentice. Later they worked together at The Guild of St Joseph and St Dominic on Ditchling Common. When Gill left the Guild in 1924, Cribb took over the stone carver's workshop and continued working there until his death. Cribb's brother Lawrence went with Gill to Wales and then to Buckinghamshire as his primary assistant. Cribb and Gill continued to work together, for example on the monumental sculpture Mankind that is now in the Tate.
Cribb was a sculptor of Commonwealth war graves, which Gill's brother Max Gill had drawn up, prior to their being copied by French artists and machines, making over 50 originals for the many regimental badges represented. Though Cribb died in 1967, the Guild itself survived until 1989.