Captain R.J. Eustace Robertson

A carte-de-visite portrait of Captain R.J. Eustace Robertson (1828-1889) of the 60th Rifles.

Identified on the album page as ‘Capt. Robertson, 60th Rifles' and in the Silvy daybooks as 'Capt. Eustace Robertson,' this is Robert Jameson Eustace Robertson of the 60th (The King’s Royal Rifle Corps). He gained the rank of Colonel in the service of the 60th Rifles.

On 9 April 1863 he married the Honourable Katherine Legge, daughter of William Legge, 4th Earl of Dartmouth. The couple had four children.

In 1875 his name was legally changed by Royal Licence to Robert Jameson Eustace Robertson Eustace.

He died at Folkestone on 1 April 1889. According to his obituary in the Times (4 April 1889): ‘Colonel Robert Jameson Eustace Eustace [sic], commanding the 3d and 4th Battalions of the South Staffordshire Regiment, and lately of the 60th Rifles, died on Monday at his residence in Clifton-gardens, Folkestone, at the age of 61. He was the son of the late Mr. Robert Robertson, Sheriff of Stirlingshire, by his marriage with the eldest daughter and co-heiress of the later Rev. Charles Eustace, claimant to the Viscounty of Baltinglas, whose name he subsequently assumed. He was born in 1828, entered the Army at an early age, and saw much active service, taking an active part with the 1st Battalion of the 60th Rifles in the operations in the Punjab in 1848-9, and during the siege operations at Mooltan, including the siege and storm of the town and capture of the citadel. He was afterwards present at the battle of Goojerat, and took part in the pursuit of the Sikh Army, and the expulsion of the Afghans beyond the Khyber Pass, for which services he received the medal with two clasps…. Later he was actively engaged in the Indian Mutiny Campaign and in the Red River Expedition of 1870. In July, 1873, he retired from active service with the rank of lieutenant-colonel of the 2d Volunteer Battalion of the South Staffordshire Regiment; and lieutenant-colonel commandant of the the 3d and 4th Battalions (Militia) of the same regiment from 1880, and hon. colonel from 1881. Colonel Eustace married in 1863 Lady Katherine Legge, daughter of the Earl of Dartmouth.’

Photographed on 12 April 1862 by Camille Silvy of London.

[From an album compiled by Anna Maria Louisa Barnewall, daughter of Lord Trimleston.]