Talk:Eben William Robertson

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It might very well be that William Charles Ross, who painted the portrait was a kinsman of Eben William Robertson's mother (daughter of a (Tain-linked) Lincoln's Inn Square solicitor, William Ross, who herself had known the future Sir Thomas Lawrence and been painted by him before her marriage in 1804). She died in 1848. Both Francis Robertson's will and that of his elder brother Ebenezer mention Ross kin. It's likely that both brothers had been born at Balcony. A portrait of an alleged "William Robertson of Chilcote", by Lawrence attributed to 1816 cannot possibly be of any Robertson "of Chilcote" - Francis only bought the estate in late 1824, and had had no previous contact with it. It may possibly be of either of the brothers. A William had been one of them, but seems to have died in 1786.Delahays (talk) 22:31, 26 February 2018 (UTC)[reply]

What is the authority for the information that Eben William Robertson was born at Netherseal? His father, Francis Robertson certainly resided at Netherseal from time to time, but as far as I can tell, not before 1824, when he bought the estate of Chilcote (which included Netherseal, and of which the estate house had been demolished for building material by 1780) in the course of the sales of the Marquess of Ormonde's English properties. In 1815 he seems likely to have been living in London - he certainly had a house at Richmond on Thames , and in 1812 he subscribes to Tain Academy from an address in Clapham. He can also be found in Russell Square and at what was probably his by then late father-in- law's offices in Lincoln's Inn Fields.Delahays (talk) 01:01, 9 March 2018 (UTC)[reply]

In fact, it turns out that Eben William Robertson was baptised in the Parish of Holy Trinity Clapham ( where there is independent evidence that his father and presumably his mother were then living, in October 1815 - see eg Family Search UK and other sources for baptismal register entry - his mother is recorded as Dorothea Laurentia. The DNB author must have been reasoning in reverse on the assumption that all landed gents are the descendants of lines of gents landed with their present estate reaching back into impenetrable antiquity. Doesn't apply to grandsons of the manse, which Francis Robertson was, still less to grandsons of the manse who make fortunes in Jamaica, as it would appear he also did.Delahays (talk) 15:04, 18 March 2018 (UTC)[reply]