David Robertson FLS, FGS (1806–1896) was a Scottish naturalist and geologist who founded the University Marine Biological Station, Millport. Robertson was born in

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

. From age 8 he worked as a herd boy in

Ayrshire Ayrshire (, ) is a Counties of Scotland, historic county and registration county, in south-west Scotland, located on the shores of the Firth of Clyde. The lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area of Ayrshire and Arran covers the entirety ...

, but eventually went on to gain a medical degree. His interests turned to the study of Natural History in the town he regularly visited, Millport, in the

Firth of Clyde The Firth of Clyde, is the estuary of the River Clyde, on the west coast of Scotland. The Firth has some of the deepest coastal waters of the British Isles. The Firth is sheltered from the Atlantic Ocean by the Kintyre, Kintyre Peninsula. The ...

. He studied the local flora and fauna and established Millport as a significant area for marine biological research. In 1885 he had the 'Ark', an old floating laboratory, drawn up on shore, at Port Loy, Cumbrae. He persuaded members of the professional and business community in Glasgow to fund a permanent marine research station there. Work was progressing on the building of the present Marine Station and museum when Robertson died aged 90. The station opened in 1897 and consisted of a laboratory, museum, and public aquarium. Robertson was assisted in his collecting by his second wife Hannah Robertson. With George Stewardson Brady (1832–1921) and HW Crosskey he wrote ''A Monograph of the Post-Tertiary

Entomostraca Entomostraca is a historical subclass of crustaceans, no longer in technical use. It was originally considered one of the two major lineages of crustaceans (the other being the class Malacostraca), combining all other classes—Branchiopoda, Cep ...

of Scotland'', printed for the Palaeontographical Society. With Crosskey he wrote on the post-tertiary

fossil A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserve ...

iferous beds of Scotland (''Trans. Geol. Soc. Glasgow''). Robertson was known as 'The Cumbrae Naturalist'.

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