Henry Robertson (11 June 1816 – 22 March 1888) was a Scottish mining engineer and prolific railway builder, industrialist and

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. __TOC__ Active liberal parties This is a li ...

politician. He was head of

Brymbo Steelworks The Brymbo Steel Works was a former large steelworks in the village of Brymbo near Wrexham, Wales. In operation between 1796 and 1990, it was significant on account of its founder, one of whose original blast furnace stacks remains on the site ...

, Wrexham. He was co-founder of

Beyer-Peacock Beyer, Peacock and Company was an English railway locomotive manufacturer with a factory in Openshaw, Manchester. Founded by Charles Beyer, Richard Peacock and Henry Robertson, it traded from 1854 until 1966. The company exported locomotives ...

, with

Charles Beyer Charles Frederick Beyer (an anglicised form of his original German name Carl Friedrich Beyer) (14 May 1813 – 2 June 1876) was a celebrated German-British locomotive designer and builder, and co-founder of the Institution of Mechanical Engineer ...

, and

Richard Peacock Richard Peacock (9 April 1820 – 3 March 1889) was an English engineer, one of the founders of locomotive manufacturer Beyer, Peacock and Company. Early life and education Born in Swaledale, Yorkshire, Richard Peacock was educated at Leeds G ...

. His son Sir Henry Beyer Robertson was knighted by

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 21 ...

for the achievements of his father.

Biography

The son of Duncan Robertson, he was born in

Banff, Aberdeenshire Banff ( gd, Banbh) is a town in the Banff and Buchan area of Aberdeenshire, Scotland. It is situated on Banff Bay and faces the town of Macduff across the estuary of the River Deveron. It is a former royal burgh, and is the county town of ...

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.

Career

He started as a railway contractor securing some contracts at Port Glasgow, under

Joseph Locke Joseph Locke FRSA (9 August 1805 – 18 September 1860) was a notable English civil engineer of the nineteenth century, particularly associated with railway projects. Locke ranked alongside Robert Stephenson and Isambard Kingdom Brunel as on ...

. On the offer of a Scottish bank to invest in the North Wales mineral district in 1842, Robertson ventured south, and purchased Brymbo Iron works and colliery, formerly owned by John Wilkinson. Robertson decided for the venture to succeed he needed to build a railway from Brymbo to

Connah's Quay Connah's Quay ( cy, Cei Connah), known locally as "The Quay" and formerly known as Wepre, is a town and community in Flintshire, lying within the Deeside conurbation along the River Dee, near the border with England. It is the largest town in ...

to export the coal and iron. This became the North Wales Mineral Railway, which runs from

Wrexham Wrexham ( ; cy, Wrecsam; ) is a city and the administrative centre of Wrexham County Borough in Wales. It is located between the Welsh mountains and the lower Dee Valley, near the border with Cheshire in England. Historically in the count ...

to Chester, with a branch to Brymbo. At Chester he had access to the Birkenhead Joint Railway and its associated docks.

Robertson's railways

Robertson was chief civil engineer responsible for the building of the following (often with

Thomas Brassey Thomas Brassey (7 November 18058 December 1870) was an English civil engineering contractor and manufacturer of building materials who was responsible for building much of the world's railways in the 19th century. By 1847, he had built about o ...

as the construction contractor) * North Wales Mineral Railway * Shrewsbury and Chester Railway *

Shrewsbury and Hereford Railway The Shrewsbury and Hereford Railway was an English railway company that built a standard gauge line between those places. It opened its main line in 1853. Its natural ally seemed to be the Great Western Railway. With other lines it formed a rou ...

Bala and Festiniog Railway The Bala and Festiniog Railway was a , standard gauge, railway backed by the Great Western Railway (GWR) in north-west Wales. It connected Bala with Blaenau Ffestiniog. History The railway originally connected Bala with Llan Ffestiniog. ...

Shrewsbury and Birmingham Railway The Shrewsbury and Birmingham Railway was authorised in 1846. It agreed to joint construction with others of the costly Wolverhampton to Birmingham section, the so-called Stour Valley Line. This work was dominated by the hostile London and North ...

Vale of Llangollen Railway The Vale of Llangollen Railway was built as a spur from the Shrewsbury and Chester Railway south of Ruabon to the town of Llangollen. The line was built along the northern side of the Dee Valley and authorized by an Act of Parliament on 1 August ...

Llangollen and Corwen Railway The Llangollen and Corwen Railway was formed as a continuation of the Vale of Llangollen Railway to continue the line along the Dee Valley a further to Corwen. This was opened on 1 May 1865 and was worked by the Great Western Railway and subseq ...

Corwen and Bala Railway Corwen is a town and community in the county of Denbighshire in Wales. Historically, Corwen is part of the county of Merionethshire. Corwen stands on the banks of the River Dee beneath the Berwyn mountains. The town is situated west of Llango ...

*Bala and Dolgellau Railway *

Wirral Railway The Wirral Railway was a railway network in the northern part of the Wirral Peninsula, England. Its route was from Birkenhead Park in the east of the Wirral to West Kirby in the west. A branch off this line at Bidston went north to Secombe and ...

Wrexham, Mold and Connah's Quay Railway The Buckley Railway was opened from Buckley to a connection with the Chester to Holyhead main line on 7 June 1862, to convey coal and finished brickworks products from the Buckley area. Numerous short tramroads had existed in the area from the ...

(extension to Wirral Railway) *

Central Wales Railway The Heart of Wales line ( cy, Llinell Calon Cymru) is a railway line running from Craven Arms in Shropshire to Llanelli in southwest Wales. It serves a number of rural centres, including the nineteenth-century spa towns Llandrindod Wells, Llang ...

(from Craven Arms to Llandovery)

Notable bridges

Robertson's bridges, all in north Wales, included: * Cefn Viaduct – carrying Shrewsbury and Chester over River Dee near Cefn Mawr, Ruabon. *

Chirk Railway Viaduct , image = Chirk Viaduct.jpg , size = , caption = Chirk Viaduct from Chirk Aqueduct , coordinates = , mapwidth = , location = Chirk, Wrexham, Wales and Chirk Bank, Shropshire, England , nearest_city = Wrexham , current_use = Railway via ...

– 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 A chain bridge is a historic form of suspension bridge for which chains or eyebars were used instead of wire ropes to carry the bridge deck. A famous example is the Széchenyi Chain Bridge in Budapest. Construction types are, as for other suspen ...

– over the Dee, near Llangollen, built in 1876 close to his business partner

Llantysilio Hall Llantysilio Hall is a Grade II* listed country house in Llantysilio, near Llangollen in Denbighshire. It is on the bank of the River Dee and adjacent to the historic Horseshoe Falls, the source of the Llangollen Canal (the eleven miles of the ca ...

estate

Brymbo iron and steel works, Wrexham

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 Sir Henry Beyer Robertson (4 May 1862 – 2 June 1948) was a British industrialist. He was the son of Henry Robertson, of Palé Hall, Llandderfel. Born in Shrewsbury, he was the son of Henry Robertson (11 June 1816 – 22 March 1888) and Elizabe ...

took over and would later (1930s) rescue the plant from bankruptcy following the great depression, and install new blast furnaces.

Coal and mineral companies

Robertson's mining and related interests included: *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). This enabled the company to have preferential rates to transport the coal. *Minera Lime Company (to supply the ironworks) *Brymbo Waterworks

Charles Beyer

Robertson was co-founder in 1854 of Beyer, Peacock and Co with

and

. Based at Gorton Foundry, in

Gorton Gorton is an area of Manchester in North West England, southeast of the city centre. The population at the 2011 census was 36,055. Neighbouring areas include Levenshulme and Openshaw. A major landmark is Gorton Monastery, a 19th-century Hig ...

, 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 The Great Western Railway (GWR) was a British railway company that linked London with the southwest, west and West Midlands of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament on 31 August 1835 and ran ...

proved useful in securing orders. On the recommendation of

, 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

ten years later.

Political career

He served as Liberal MP for

Shrewsbury Shrewsbury ( , also ) is a market town, civil parish, and the county town of Shropshire, England, on the River Severn, north-west of London; at the 2021 census, it had a population of 76,782. The town's name can be pronounced as either 'Sh ...

from 1862 to 1865 and from 1874 to 1885, and

Merioneth , HQ= Dolgellau , Government= Merionethshire County Council (1889-1974) , Origin= , Status= , Start= 1284 , End= , Code= MER , CodeName= ...

from 1885 to 1886, resigning his seat as a result of his opposition to

Gladstone William Ewart Gladstone ( ; 29 December 1809 – 19 May 1898) was a British statesman and Liberal politician. In a career lasting over 60 years, he served for 12 years as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, spread over four non-conse ...

Home Rule Bill The Irish Home Rule movement was a movement that campaigned for self-government (or "home rule") for Ireland within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. It was the dominant political movement of Irish nationalism from 1870 to the e ...

Personal life

He was a keen walker and enjoyed dancing. He married Elizabeth Dean in St James Westminster, London in 1848. She was the daughter of a London solicitor . They had four children. Elizabeth (1851), Annie (1854), Henrietta (1858), and Henry Beyer Robertson (1864).

Residences

1851: Richmond Place,

Chester Chester is a cathedral city and the county town of Cheshire, England. It is located on the River Dee, close to the English–Welsh border. With a population of 79,645 in 2011,"2011 Census results: People and Population Profile: Chester Loca ...

. 1861: St Mary's Court, Shrewsbury. In the 1860s, he also bought a large estate in Crogen,

Llandderfel Llandderfel is a village and a sparsely populated community in Gwynedd, Wales, near Bala, formerly served by the Llandderfel railway station. The community also includes the settlements of Glan-yr-afon, Llanfor, Cefnddwysarn and Frongoch. T ...

, near Bala, Gwynedd. 1871, 1881:England Census 1881 13, Lancaster Gate,

Paddington Paddington is an area within the City of Westminster, in Central London. First a medieval parish then a metropolitan borough, it was integrated with Westminster and Greater London in 1965. Three important landmarks of the district are Paddi ...

, 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.

References

External links

*
Entry in Welsh Biography Online
{{DEFAULTSORT:Robertson, Henry 1816 births 1888 deaths Liberal Party (UK) MPs for Welsh constituencies Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for English constituencies UK MPs 1859–1865 UK MPs 1874–1880 UK MPs 1880–1885 UK MPs 1885–1886