Robert Johnston (1783–1839)

Robert Johnston (1783–1839) was a plantation owner in Jamaica and an investor in the London & Greenwich Railway.

Life

He was the son of Alexander Johnston (died 1786), owner of the Murphy's Penn estate in Saint Ann Parish, Jamaica, and his wife Elizabeth Collett Gilbert.[1][2] He went on a European Grand Tour towards the end of the Napoleonic Wars, after schooling in Aberdeen.[1] He visited Moscow in 1812, after its burning.[3]

Later Johnston owned the Harmony Hill estate in Jamaica, for which he received compensation.[1] He moved in 1833 to Rhode Island, at the period of emancipation.[4]

Johnston was one of the founders of the Southampton and London Railway and Dock Company, in 1831, with George Walter, and Abel Rous Dottin, also from Jamaica and a relation. The company failed.[5][6] He had had earlier business associations with Walter.[3] Planning for the London & Greenwich Railway occurred at an initial meeting held in Dottin's house in Argyle Street, London, where Johnston was present.[5] After a time on the board of the company, he left it with his emigration to the United States.[3]

Family

Johnston married in 1818 Catherine Cole Taylor, heiress to Harmony Hill.[1] Their daughter Mary married Samuel Powel (1818–1885), son of John Hare Powel.[7]

Notes
  1. "Summary of Individual, Robert Johnston 1783–1839, Legacies of British Slave-ownership". Retrieved 26 July 2017.
  2. "Summary of Individual James Johnston, Legacies of British Slave-ownership". Retrieved 26 July 2017.
  3. Ronald Henry George Thomas (1986). London's First Railway: The London and Greenwich. B. T. Batsford Limited. p. 26. ISBN 978-0-7134-5414-7.
  4. Powel Family Papers (PDF), at p. 6
  5. Ronald Henry George Thomas (1986). London's First Railway: The London and Greenwich. B. T. Batsford Limited. p. 15. ISBN 978-0-7134-5414-7.
  6. Mason, George Champlin (1884). "Reminiscences of Newport ...Extra Illustrated. Edition D." Internet Archive. Charles E. Hammett, Jr. p. 187. Retrieved 12 April 2017.
  7. "SNAC, Powel family". Retrieved 26 July 2017.
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