Sir Henry Beyer Robertson (4 May 1862 – 2 June 1948) was a British industrialist. He was the son of

Henry Robertson Henry Robertson (11 June 1816 – 22 March 1888) was a Scottish mining engineer and prolific railway builder, industrialist and Liberal Party politician. He was head of Brymbo Steelworks, Wrexham. He was co-founder of Beyer-Peacock, with C ...

, of Palé Hall,

Llandderfel Llandderfel is a village and a sparsely populated community in Gwynedd, Wales, near Bala, formerly served by the Llandderfel railway station. The community also includes the settlements of Glan-yr-afon, Llanfor, Cefnddwysarn and Frongoch. ...

Life

Born in

Shrewsbury Shrewsbury ( , ) is a market town and civil parish in Shropshire (district), Shropshire, England. It is sited on the River Severn, northwest of Wolverhampton, west of Telford, southeast of Wrexham and north of Hereford. At the 2021 United ...

, he was the son of

(11 June 1816 – 22 March 1888) and Elizabeth Dean (9 December 1821 – 14 March 1892, formerly of Brymbo Hall). He was named after his godfather,

Charles Beyer Charles Frederick Beyer (an anglicised form of his original German name Carl Friedrich Beyer) (14 May 1813 – 2 June 1876) was a celebrated German-British locomotive designer and builder, and co-founder of the Institution of Mechanical Engineer ...

. Robertson was educated at

Shrewsbury School Shrewsbury School is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school in Shrewsbury. Founded in 1552 by Edward VI by royal charter, to replace the town's Saxon collegiate foundations which were disestablished in the sixteenth century, Shrewsb ...

Eton College Eton College ( ) is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school providing boarding school, boarding education for boys aged 13–18, in the small town of Eton, Berkshire, Eton, in Berkshire, in the United Kingdom. It has educated Prime Mini ...

, and

Jesus College, Cambridge Jesus College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Jesus College was established in 1496 on the site of the twelfth-century Benedictine nunnery of St Radegund's Priory, Cambridge, St ...

. He served in the

Royal Welsh Fusiliers The Royal Welch Fusiliers () was a line infantry regiment of the British Army, and part of the Prince of Wales's Division, that was founded in 1689, shortly after the Glorious Revolution. In 1702, it was designated a fusilier regiment and becam ...

from 1882 to 1883. He became a director of

Beyer, Peacock & Company Beyer, Peacock and Company was an English general engineering company and railway locomotive manufacturer with a factory in Openshaw, Manchester. Charles Beyer, Richard Peacock and Henry Robertson founded the company in 1854. The company close ...

, and of the

Great Western Railway The Great Western Railway (GWR) was a History of rail transport in Great Britain, British railway company that linked London with the southwest, west and West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, ...

(GWR). His father had been the engineer of many of the railways in Wales which were taken over by the GWR. His father died in 1888, ahead of

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in January 1901. Her reign of 63 year ...

's visit to Palé Hall in 1889, and it fell to Henry Beyer Robertson to play host. He was knighted in 1890, as recognition of his father. He was also appointed Deputy Lieutenant, and nominated as High Sheriff of Merionethshire. Robertson also became was the head of

Brymbo Steelworks The Brymbo Steel Works was a former large steelworks in the village of Brymbo near Wrexham, Wales. In operation between 1796 and 1990, it was significant on account of its founder, one of whose original blast furnace stacks remains on the sit ...

. His father had rescued the original Brymbo Ironworks (founded by John Wilkinson) in the 1840s, and introduced steel-making in the 1880s. During the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

ensured maximum production of iron and steel at Brymbo for munitions. He rescued the works from bankruptcy in the 1931 following the

Great Depression The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...

. He successfully negotiated a contract to supply steel to

Rolls-Royce Rolls-Royce (always hyphenated) may refer to: * Rolls-Royce Limited, a British manufacturer of cars and later aero engines, founded in 1906, now defunct Automobiles * Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, the current car manufacturing company incorporated in ...

, for aero engine production, during Britain's rearming in response to Germany's growing military build up in the late 1930s.

Family

Robertson married in 1890 Florence Mary Keates, daughter of Joseph Andrew Keates and granddaughter of William Keates (1801–1888), of the Lancashire copper smelters Newton, Keates & Co. The couple had six children: four daughters, Jean (born 1892), Mary (born 1893), Elizabeth (born 1894), Annie (born 1895); followed by two boys, Henry (born 1897), and Duncan (born 1900).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Robertson, Henry Beyer 1862 births 1948 deaths Knights Bachelor