Blairgowrie

Robertson is a very common name in Blairgowrie, Perthshire, and in the mid-18th-century a lot of those Robertsons were related to each other. (Today’s Robertsons may well be related too, but I don’t know much about them.)

JOHN ROBERTSON (1768-1852) MY GREAT GREAT GREAT GRANDFATHER

In the spring of the year 1768 a certain John Robertson was born in a hamlet called Balnauld, near Kirkmichael, in Highland Perthshire. His father was Robert Robertson and his mother revelled in the name of Hanble Fleming. (I suspect ‘Hanble’ is a local variant of the name ‘Annabel’.)

In August 1792, aged 24 years, John Robertson married Margaret Lamb (1774-1841), a 22-year-old who hailed from a tiny place called Knockie, 2 miles north of Blair, most of which is no longer in existence. At this point they still lived somewhere in the Kirkmichael area: at least, they were married at Kirkmichael kirk.

In the following year, 1793, their first child, Ann was born, followed in quick succession by Alexander (1795), Elizabeth (1798), George (1802) and John (1806).

At some point during these years the family moved to Leslie Street Cottage (later renamed Fonteyn) in Blairgowrie. In 1802 John is described as a cooper. Their address is variously given as, ‘Hill of Blair’, and ‘Blairgowrie’.

Of their five children, two of their sons are direct ancestors of mine, which sounds odd until you realise how common a marriage between second cousins may have been.

George, the son born in 1802, was my grandfather’s grandfather. Alexander, the one born in 1795, was my grandmother’s grandfather. (My grandparents were second cousins, and both had the surname Robertson.)

John Robertson, father to these five children, died in 1852, having attained the great age of 84 years. He still lived in Leslie Street at the time.

GEORGE ROBERTSON (1802-1876) MY GREAT GREAT GRANDFATHER

4 generations of Robertsons. The seated lady is Mary Cowan; the gentleman is Thomas Saunders Robertson (my great grandfather's brother), the lady is probably his daughter Agnes and the little boy is her son.

George Robertson was born on the 22nd of July 1802 in Blairgowrie, the 4th of his parents’ five children.

On the 25th of June 1824, aged nearly 22, he married Mary Cowan (1803-1893) the daughter of William Cowan and Agnes Moncur. The young couple were married in New Rattray by the Reverend James Johnstone, Minister of Blair.

Over the next 24 years George and Mary had 10 children:

1. William Robertson: b.8th August 1825
2. Robert Robertson: b. 21st May 1827
3. Annie Robertson: b. 18th March 1829
4. Isabella Robertson: b. 20th February 1831
5. John Robertson: 24th November 1832 – 4th June 1906
6. Thomas Saunders Robertson: 26th June 1834 – 1923 (Thomas was an architect and an artist: I have one or two of his watercolours.)
7. THE TWINS: born 16th May 1836 – Peter W. Robertson (always known as ‘Uncle Peter’ who died in November 1923) and JAMES LESLIE ROBERTSON , my great grandfather, who died 31st May 1905.

9. Margaret Robertson: b. 6th November 1842

10. Mary L. Robertson: 26th March 1849 – 20th June 1901.

George, that father of this large brood, was a keen curler and played for the Blair curling team along with his brother Alexander.

There are some discrepancies about his occupation, but he may have run the Blair Meal Mill at one point, and/or been an auctioneer or vintner, or the local registrar. He seems to have been an innkeeper in Croft Lane, Blairgowrie at one point, anyway.

The Darjeeling connection

My grandfather died when my mother was only 6 years old, so I don’t know as much about him as I’d like. He was a fascinating man, an innovator. He drove the first motor car in Darjeeling, and was involved in the early days of flight. Who knows what he might have done, had he lived?

Among his many interests was photography. He built cameras, made sensitized film and created prints on various types of paper. As his only grandchild, I have inherited a huge amount of this stuff, and am only now getting to grips with organizing it.

As a start, I scanned a few photos some time ago, and uploaded them to Flickr. There was a bit of interest, and a few people commented favourably.

The other day, however, I received one of the most exciting emails I’ve had for a long time, from Barun Roy of the Himalayan Beacon , who has been trying to find out more about my grandfather for a long time. I now find that George Patrick Robertson, whom I assumed to be long forgotten, is well respected in Darjeeling and is counted as one of the ‘Founding Fathers’ of Darjeeling Hills.

Because of this interest I’ve scanned several more of the old photos and uploaded them to Flickr, but I feel the important thing now is to write my grandfather’s story as far as I know it, getting the facts right, so that anyone interested can access this information.

There will be a lot more here than just the story of George Patrick Robertson, of course. I have traced my family tree several generations back before his time, and there are all sorts of siblings and cousins and descendants to talk about, so we may be here for some time.

I plan to try to visit Darjeeling in the near future, to see the places connected with the family, take photos, meet people and write about my experiences. If you know of any organization that might consider sponsoring such a trip I’d be very interested to hear about it.

Sensible comments are welcome and I’ll try to answer any questions you may have, though please note that I do have to earn a living as well so I’m sometimes quite busy with real life!