Henry Robertson

The son of Duncan Robertson, he was born in Banff, Aberdeenshire on 16 January 1816, and educated at King's College, Aberdeen University, and graduated M.A. He was initially to enter the ministry but turned to engineering.

Robertson was chief civil engineer responsible for the building of the following (often with Thomas Brassey as the construction contractor)[2]

• North Wales Mineral Railway
• Shrewsbury and Chester Railway
• Shrewsbury and Hereford Railway
• Bala and Festiniog Railway
• Shrewsbury and Birmingham Railway
• Vale of Llangollen Railway
• Llangollen and Corwen Railway
• Corwen and Bala Railway
• Bala and Dolgellau Railway
• Wirral Railway
• Wrexham, Mold and Connah's Quay Railway (extension to Wirral Railway)
• Central Wales Railway (from Craven Arms to Llandovery)

Robertson's bridges, all in north Wales, included:[2]

• Cefn Viaduct – carrying Shrewsbury and Chester over River Dee near Cefn Mawr, Ruabon.
• Chirk Railway Viaduct – carrying Shrewsbury and Chester Railway over the River Ceirriog at Chirk
• Queensferry Railway Swing Bridge over the River Dee, connecting Flintshire and the Wirral.
• The second Chain Bridge – over the Dee, near Llangollen, built in 1876 close to his business partner Charles Beyer's Llantysilio Hall estate

Robertson purchased the old iron works of John Wilkinson in 1840. In 1885 he introduced steel-making. Following his death in 1889, his son Sir Henry Beyer Robertson took over and would later (1930s) rescue the plant from bankruptcy following the great depression, and install new blast furnaces.[3][4]

Robertson's mining and related interests included:[1][3][4]

• Brymbo Iron and Coal Company (Gatewen and Plaspower collieries), Wrexham
• Broughton and Plaspower Coal Company
• Ruabon Coal and Coal and Coke Company. Formed in 1865 with Henry Dennis and Sir Daniel Gooch (who was then chairman of the Great Western Railway).[5] This enabled the company to have preferential rates to transport the coal.
• Minera Lime Company (to supply the ironworks)
• Brymbo Waterworks

Robertson was co-founder in 1854 of Beyer, Peacock and Co with Charles Beyer and Richard Peacock. Based at Gorton Foundry, in Gorton, Manchester, it would become one of the world's leading locomotive manufacturers. Robertson knew Beyer because he supplied some of the locomotives to his railways. He was a sleeping partner but his connections with the Great Western Railway proved useful in securing orders.[5]

On the recommendation of Thomas Brassey, Robertson provided the loan, when the original loan of banker Charles Geach fell through. Robertson and Beyer subsequently became close friends for life; Beyer was godfather of Robertson's daughter in 1854 and of his son Sir Henry Beyer Robertson ten years later.

He served as Liberal MP for Shrewsbury from 1862 to 1865 and from 1874 to 1885, and Merioneth from 1885 to 1886, resigning his seat as a result of his opposition to Gladstone's Home Rule Bill.[6]

He was a keen walker and enjoyed dancing.

He married Elizabeth Dean in St James Westminster, London in 1848.[7] She was the daughter of a London solicitor .

They had four children. Elizabeth (1851), Annie (1854), Henrietta (1858), and Henry Beyer Robertson (1864).

1851:[8] Richmond Place, Chester.

1861:[9] St Mary's Court, Shrewsbury. In the 1860s, he also bought a large estate in Crogen, Llandderfel, near Bala, Gwynedd.

1871,[10] 1881:[11] 13, Lancaster Gate, Paddington, London (at the time of the 1871 Census, he was an MP sitting at Westminster). In 1871, he built Palé Hall, a large country house, in Llandderfel, which became his country seat.

He died at Palé Hall on 22 March 1888, aged 71.

• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Henry Robertson
• Entry in Welsh Biography Online