Contributed by Jim Henderson
ARCH HERETIC UNKNOWN GENIUS. J.M.ROBERTSON.
Author Martin Page of London. Copyright 30.11.2024.
Contains 592 pages priced at £20.00 + £4.00 postage.
Anyone interested in purchasing a copy, please contact the Voice for the address.
John MacKinnon Robertson 14.11.1856 – 5.1.1933
Born in a small croft at Low Glencloy, Brodick on the Island of Arran.
Family left Arran in 1859 when his father was unable to meet the rent and found work in Stirling. J.M.Robertson was educated in Stirling and left school at age of 13 in 1869/70 to earn a living by working locally for the railway as a telegraph clerk.
At age of 21, his interest in journalism led to him becoming the leading writer for the Edinburgh Evening News, before heading for London and eventually being elected as the Liberal candidate for Tyneside in the 1906 general election. During the period of 1911-1915 he was the Parliamentary Secretary to the Board of Trade and was a Privy Councillor.
On page 4 under the heading of ‘The Isle of Arran’ Martin Page refers to Archie McDonald of Whiting Bay and his shoemaking business in Lamlash. [Now the location of ‘Island Porcelain’]
An enthusiastic free thinker, a member of the London South Place Ethical Society and Rationalist Press Association, which Robertson had been associated with. On his death Archie bequeathed 3 cottages at Ardshiel Whiting Bay, as a memorial tribute to Robertson.
Around 1937 Archie placed an advert for a cobbler’s assistant at his place of work in Whiting Bay. My father responded to the advert, cycled from Fife to Fairlie for the paddle steamer connection. His 3-month summer engagement was extended when he began a relationship with Archie’s sister- my mother. The rest as they say, is now history.
{While there are definition difficulties in deciding what exactly constitutes a book many of Robertson’s were published in revised editions or included separately, published, if substantial, pamphlets taking his total to about 100 editions. He often gave lectures in his favourite subjects.} (Quotation from Martin Page)
Jim Henderson.
