Eben William Robertson (17 September 1815 – 3 June 1874) was a British historian.

Life

Robertson was born near the Leicestershire-

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It borders Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire, and South Yorkshire to the north, Nottinghamshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south-east, Staffordshire to the south a ...

border at Netherseale, into a wealthy landowning family. He was a distant relative of 18th century Scots historian and academic William Robertson. He attended

Worcester College, Oxford Worcester College ( ) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. The college was founded in 1714 by the benefaction of Sir Thomas Cookes, 2nd Baronet (1648–1701) of Norgrove, Worcestershire, whose coat of arms was ad ...

, and received legal training at

Lincoln's Inn The Honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn, commonly known as Lincoln's Inn, is one of the four Inns of Court (professional associations for Barrister, barristers and judges) in London. To be called to the bar in order to practise as a barrister ...

. His father died in 1852 and Robertson succeeded to the family's estates. As a legally trained landowner and gentleman, he was active in local administration, first as a justice of the peace. In 1862, he was appointed Deputy

Lord Lieutenant A lord-lieutenant ( ) is the British monarch's personal representative in each lieutenancy area of the United Kingdom. Historically, each lieutenant was responsible for organising the county's militia. In 1871, the lieutenant's responsibility ov ...

of Leicestershire, and in 1870, he became

High Sheriff of Derbyshire This is a list of Sheriffs of Derbyshire from 1567 until 1974 and High Sheriffs since. The ancient Sheriff title originating in the time of the Angles, not long after the invasion of the Kingdom of England, which was in existence for around ...

. Robertson was married to Isabella Colgrave in 1838. They had one son and two daughters. He is best remembered as a historian of medieval Scotland. His 1862 work ''Scotland under her early Kings'' (2 volumes) was well regarded. He published a collection of essays, ''Historical Essays in connexion with the Land, the Church, etc.'' in 1874. In 1874 Robertson was injured attempting, unsuccessfully, to save his two nieces from a fire. Soon after he caught cold and died after a painful illness.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Robertson, Eben William 1815 births 1874 deaths People from Leicestershire (before 1897) Alumni of Worcester College, Oxford 19th-century English historians Deputy lieutenants of Leicestershire High sheriffs of Derbyshire Historians of Scotland