Patrick Francis Robertson was a British businessman and a Liberal Conservative Member of Parliament for Hastings, East Sussex, England.
Background
Patrick Francis Robertson was born on 24 August 1807 in Meigle, Perthshire, Scotland, the oldest son of the Review Daniel Robertson (1755 - 1817), Doctor of Divinity and Isabella Small (1774 - 1811). His father was a Professor of Oriental Languages at Saint Mary"s College, Saint Andrews, Scotland from 1809 - 1817.
Career
Robertson"s mother died when he was four. Robertson obtained his formal education at the University of Saint Andrews. He lived for a time in Canton, China.
Positions as a sub-governor for the London Assurance Corporation, department-chairman of the Bank of Egypt, and director of the Oriental Bank and the Ceylon Company, eventually followed for Robertson.
Around Hastings, Robertson was known for his real estate development projects. Robertson was a Deputy-Lieutenant of Sussex and a Justice of the Peace for the borough of Hastings.
In 1847 Robertson was an unsuccessful candidate for Parliament. He chose to run again in October 1864, but was not re-elected until July 1865.
He declared himself retired in 1868, but unsuccessfully ran yet again in 1869 and 1874.
A lifelong bachelor, Patrick Francis Robertson died on 20 January 1885 in Hampstead, Middlesex, England. Robertson"s estate in Hastings, on Old London Road, was named Halton House. The mansion house no longer exists but the hill where it stood is called Robertson Hill.
Robertson Street and Robertson Terrace, sites within a large-scale development belonging to Robertson, are also named after him.
Membership
The family was a member of the Smalls of Dirnanean. After graduating, Robertson joined other members of his extended family in the East India and China trade, becoming a wealthy manitoba