Robertson

Contributed by H.R.S. (Tim) Ellis

James Fiddis Robertson was a partner in the large department store on King Street in Saint John known as the Manchester-Robertson-Allison (MRA). His summer home (now the Shadow Lawn Inn) was named Karsalie after the Crimean city of Kars, where a forebear, General Sir Fenwick Williams, on loan from the British army, had commanded the Turkish troops opposing the Russians who had laid siege to the city. Mr Robertson also purchased two properties on what was later to be called Collage Hill, hired a headmaster from England and established a school for boys in 1891.

Mr. Robertson had four daughters, for two of whom (Mrs. Harry Puddington and Mrs Ned Armstrong) he built homes adjacent to his property on Rothesay Road. When one of his daughters was married, Mr Robertson hired a special train to bring guests out from the city and to transport them to Saint John after the wedding.

Mr. Robertson’s sister Anna was the mother of Harold Ellis, a long time resident of Maiden Lane.