Sir Alexander MacRobert

Sir Alexander MacRobert was a self-made millionaire from Aberdeen. He came from a working-class background and left school when he was twelve to start his working life sweeping floors in Stoneywood Paper Mill; his education was continued by attending evening classes and he gained several qualifications as his early career progressed. At the beginning of 1884 MacRobert travelled to India to take up employment in a woollen mill in Cawnpore, or Kanpur as it is now known. By 1920 he had built up a portfolio of companies enabling him to found the British India Corporation. He was raised to a baronet at the beginning of 1922, choosing to be named Sir Alexander MacRobert of Cawnpore and Cromar of the County of Aberdeen.

Career

MacRobert received a knighthood in the New Year's Honours list in 1910.[1][2] He was raised to a baronet at the beginning of 1922, choosing to be named Sir Alexander MacRobert of Cawnpore and Cromar of the County of Aberdeen.[3] It was at this time that he altered the spelling of his surname from McRobert to MacRobert.[4]

Family

MacRobert was born in Aberdeen on 21 May 1854;[5] his father, John, was a farmer from a Drumblade family who had married Helen, a farmer's daughter from Banchory-Devenick.[6] He left school when he was twelve but continued his education by attending evening classes studying a wide variety of subjects.[7]

On 31 December 1883 MacRobert married Georgina Porter, a factory worker who went on to work in a laundry.[8] At the time of their marriage she lived in Aberdeen with her mother, brother and two sisters.[7][8] MacRobert was left a widower when his wife died of cancer aged 53 on 30 November 1905.[9] The couple had no children. Her death led to MacRobert, who by then was wealthy with a high status and influence,[10] making a donation of £25,000 in 1906 to initiate research into the cause, prevention and cure for the disease to be undertaken in the Faculty of Medicine at Aberdeen University.[7] Named the Georgina McRobert Fellowship it was continued at the University until at least the last decade of the twentieth century.[7] Over the following years, MacRobert donated more funds to the Fellowship.[11] He also commemorated her by establishing a community hospital in Cawnpore, or Kanpur as it is now known;[7] James Meston, a fellow Aberdonian who at the time was serving as the Lieutenant-Governor of the United Provinces of Agra and Oudh, laid the foundation stone in 1916; the hospital opened in 1920[12] by Sir Spencer Harcourt Butler who referred to MacRobert as "The King of Cawnpore".[5]

On a boat trip back to Scotland from India in 1909, MacRobert met Rachel Workman,[13] the eldest child of Fanny Bullock Workman and her husband William Hunter Workman, who were from prominent, wealthy New England families.[14] Rachel and MacRobert married on 7 July 1911 at a Quakers Meeting House in York.[15][16] The couple had three children, all boys: Alasdair, the eldest was born on 11 July 1912; Roderic on 8 May 1915; and the youngest, Iain, on 19 April 1917.[17]

Death and legacy

He returned to Scotland in April 1922 but was in poor health;[18] he had a fatal heart attack on 22 June 1922 at Douneside.[19][20] Georgina, his first wife, had been buried in Allenvale Cemetery, Aberdeen and he was interred beside her.[21] His British assets after the payment of death duties amounted to £264,000.[22] The inheritance went to Alasdair, his eldest son, who became the second of the MacRobert baronets, but he died in an aviation accident in 1938.[7] A similar fate befell the two younger sons as both died in action in 1941 while serving as pilots in the Royal Air Force.[10]. The legacy was eventually bequeathed by Lady MacRobert to the MacRobert Trust, a charity with continuing connections with the military, with the countryside and farming, who make charitable grants and operate the former family estate including Douneside House.[23]McRobertganj in Kanpur is named on his memorial.

References

Citations

  1. ↑ Miller (2014), p. 84
  2. ↑ Farrington & Leach (2003), p. 100
  3. ↑ Miller (2014), p. 114
  4. ↑ Miller (2014), p. 9
  5. 1 2 "Death of Sir Alex M'Robert B.T.", Aberdeen Journal (21037), p. 4, 23 June 1922 – via British Newspaper Archive, (subscription required (help))
  6. ↑ Miller (2014), pp. 14, 19
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "The Man Behind the MacRobert Fortune", Press & Journal (YL supplement), pp. 4–6, 5 March 2016
  8. 1 2 Miller (2014), p. 20
  9. ↑ Miller (2014), p. 71
  10. 1 2 "Brief History", Annual Review, MacRobert Trust: 6–7, December 2014, archived from the original on 12 April 2016
  11. ↑ Miller (2014), p. 74
  12. ↑ Miller (2014), p. 76
  13. ↑ Miller (2014), p. 82
  14. ↑ Pauly (2012), p. 34
  15. ↑ Miller (2014), p. 85
  16. ↑ "Miss Workman weds", New York Times, p. 1, 10 July 1911 – via Newspapers.com
  17. ↑ Miller (2014), p. 88
  18. ↑ Miller (2014), pp. 117–118
  19. ↑ Miller (2014), p. 118
  20. ↑ "Death of Sir A. McRobert", The Times (43065), p. 11, 23 June 1922
  21. ↑ Webster, Jack (12 May 1990), "Triumph out of tragedy", The Herald (Glasgow)
  22. ↑ "British estate valued at fully £260,000", Aberdeen Journal (21172), p. 6, 4 November 1922 – via British Newspaper Archive, (subscription required (help))
  23. ↑ "The MacRobert Trust". The MacRobert Trust. Retrieved 10 June 2016.

Bibliography

  • Farrington, Susan; Leach, Hugh (2003), Strolling About on the Roof of the World: The First Hundred Years of the Royal Society for Asian Affairs, Routledge, ISBN 1-134-42668-2 
  • Miller, Marion (2014), Cawnpore to Cromar, Librario, ISBN 978-1-909238-09-1 
  • Pauly, Thomas H. (2012), Game Faces: Five Early American Champions and the Sports They Changed, University of Nebraska Press, ISBN 978-0-8032-3817-6 
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