Robert was born on November 27th 1843, the first child of William and Agnes. His birth and baptism recorded at the Ayr-Cathcart St non-conformist church.
His siblings were Margaret (1847), Janet (1849), Agnes (1852), Jane (1854), William (1857), Mary (1859), Isabella (1861), Thomas Baird (1863) and John Cooper (1867).
He appears in the 1861 Census as living with his parents in Douglas Street, Kilmarnock. At age seventeen he was listed as unmarried, a boilermaker and born in Ayr.
Very little is known about him to date. On the 17th of July 1863, he married Margaret Paton at 18 Newhall Terrace, Glasgow “after Banns according to the Established Church of Scotland”. His address at the time was given as 18 Rutherglen Street, Govan and his age as twenty.
Margaret was the daughter of Samuel Paton (cotton spinner) and Elizabeth Maxwell. Born the 6th September 1845, she was baptised in St. Andrews Catholic Church the following January. From the 1851 census she appears to be sister to Mary (1844) and Sarah (1851). Margaret was seventeen when married and gave her address as 17 Crown Street, Glasgow.
No children have been found so far for this marriage.
Robert died on the 18th March 1869 in Tradeston, Glasgow. The cause of death is given as thipisis, or tuberculosis as we would know it today. His wife Margaret witnessed the death registration.
Last updated December 2021
Bruce Hannah
