Thomas Campbell Robertson (9 November 1789 – 6 July 1863) was a British

civil servant The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil servants hired on professional merit rather than appointed or elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leaders ...

Bengal Civil Service The Indian Civil Service (ICS), officially known as the Imperial Civil Service, was the higher civil service of the British Empire in India during British rule in the period between 1858 and 1947. Its members ruled over more than 300 million p ...

in India.

Personal life

Thomas Campbell Robertson was born in

Kenilworth Kenilworth ( ) is a market town and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Warwick (district), Warwick District in Warwickshire, England, south-west of Coventry, north of Warwick and north-west of London. It lies on Finham Brook, a ...

on 9 November 1789, the youngest son of Captain George Robertson and Anne ( Lewis). His father was offered a knighthood for his service in the Battle of Dogger Bank in 1781, and his mother was the daughter of

Francis Lewis Francis Lewis (March 21, 1713 – December 31, 1802) was an American merchant and a Founding Father of the United States. He was a signatory of the United States Declaration of Independence and Articles of Confederation as a representative of ...

(1713–1802), one of the signers of the

United States Declaration of Independence The United States Declaration of Independence, formally The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen States of America, is the pronouncement and founding document adopted by the Second Continental Congress meeting at Pennsylvania State House ...

. When Thomas's father died in 1791 the family moved to

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

where he attended

Edinburgh High School The Royal High School (RHS) of Edinburgh is a co-educational school administered by the City of Edinburgh Council. The school was founded in 1128 and is one of the oldest schools in Scotland. It serves 1,200 pupils drawn from four feeder primar ...

. Robertson died at his home at 68

Eaton Square Eaton Square is a rectangular, residential garden square in London's Belgravia district. It is the largest square in London. It is one of the three squares built by the landowning Grosvenor family when they developed the main part of Belgravia ...

, London, on 5 July 1863.

Career

Robertson was appointed Judge of the courts of the Ṣadr Dīwānī ʿAdālat and Ṣadr Nizāmat ʿAdālat at the

Bengal Presidency The Bengal Presidency, officially the Presidency of Fort William and later Bengal Province, was a subdivision of the British Empire in India. At the height of its territorial jurisdiction, it covered large parts of what is now South Asia and ...

in 1804. In 1822, he became District Magistrate in

Chittagong Chittagong ( /ˈtʃɪt əˌɡɒŋ/ ''chit-uh-gong''; ctg, চিটাং; bn, চিটাগং), officially Chattogram ( bn, চট্টগ্রাম), is the second-largest city in Bangladesh after Dhaka and third largest city in B ...

; and from March 1825 to August 1825 he served as Agent to the Governor General in

Arakan Arakan ( or ) is a historic coastal region in Southeast Asia. Its borders faced the Bay of Bengal to its west, the Indian subcontinent to its north and Burma proper to its east. The Arakan Mountains isolated the region and made it accessi ...

. From 1825 to 1826 Robertson was British Political Officer of

Burma Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...

. In 1826 he was Civil Commissioner in

Pegu Bago (formerly spelt Pegu; , ), formerly known as Hanthawaddy, is a city and the capital of the Bago Region in Myanmar. It is located north-east of Yangon. Etymology The Burmese name Bago (ပဲခူး) is likely derived from the Mon lang ...

and Ava when

Treaty of Yandaboo The Treaty of Yandabo ( my, ရန္တပိုစာချုပ် ) was the peace treaty that ended the First Anglo-Burmese War. The treaty was signed on 24February 1826, nearly two years after the war formally broke out on 5March 1824, by ...

was signed on 24 February 1826. In 1832 he was the Agent to the Governor General on the North East Frontier Agency. From 11 November 1835 to 27 January 1840 Robertson was Member of the council of the Governor General; he was also President of the council of India & Deputy Governor of Bengal On 4 February 1840 he was posted as Lieutenant-Governor of the

North-Western Provinces The North-Western Provinces was an administrative region in British India. The North-Western Provinces were established in 1836, through merging the administrative divisions of the Ceded and Conquered Provinces. In 1858, the nawab-ruled kingdom ...

where he served for eleven months till 31 December 1842. He was also District Magistrate of Kanpur. He was provisionally Governor-General for some time. In his book ''Civility and Empire'' (2002), Professor Anindyo Roy of

Colby College Colby College is a private liberal arts college in Waterville, Maine. It was founded in 1813 as the Maine Literary and Theological Institution, then renamed Waterville College after the city where it resides. The donations of Christian philanthr ...

describes Robertson as an arch-colonialist and quotes him as saying, "the natives of India are better servants than subjects; and it is in former capacity alone that we can ever expect to command their co-operation in any emergency."

Works

* * *

Family

In 1830 Robertson married Amelia Jane Elliot (11 October 1810 – 19 June 1837); they had three children.SOUTH-AFRICA-IMMIGRANTS-BRITISH-L Archives
/ref> He married his second wife, Emma Jane Anderdon, daughter of

John Proctor Anderdon John Proctor Anderdon (1760–1846) was an English merchant, banker and slave-owner, known also as an art collector. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1811. Life He was the son of Ferdinando Anderdon and his wife Mary Hobart, and gran ...

, in 1852.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Robertson, Thomas Campbell 1789 births 1863 deaths People educated at the Royal High School, Edinburgh Members of the Council of India British East India Company civil servants Lieutenant-Governors of the North-Western Provinces