Early Years
Robertson, along with his siblings was bought up in Liverpool at the Gladstone house in Rodney Street and then at Seaforth House from 1813. He studied at Eton College along with his older brothers Thomas and William. He was moved by his father to Glasgow Academy at the age of sixteen, where he was keen on mathematics, which he judged would be of use in his intended future career as a merchant. He then returned to Liverpool work in the offices of his father's company.
On 28 September 1827 he traveled with his brother Thomas to spend the Winter in Naples. Whilst there they viewed an eruption of Vesuvius. On his return to England he proposed to his father that he should visit the family estates in the West Indies with his father accepting the proposal. Leaving on 12 October 1828 he traveled to Demerara, British Guiana, arriving in November and remained for three months until March 1829. Robertson made record of this journey in his Journal of a Voyage & Residence in the Colony of Demerara which is held in the library of the Liverpool Athenaeum. He traveled back to England via the United States of America where he stopped in Philadelphia.
In 1833 he became a freemason in Liverpool.
Read more about this topic: Robertson Gladstone
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