In April 2016, Betty McLean of Oakville Canada contacted me to say,

“Hi Paul I am enjoying the Blantyre Project on Facebook. I thought I would pass the obituary on as you may know some of the relatives in the Blantyre area. This man was from Blantyre and although I did not know him I found it interesting. We will be in Scotland for two weeks in May staying in the Dunoon area and returning to Canada on May 23. I will be in Blantyre to visit my family during that time. and would love to get a chance to say Hello if that is possible.”

How interesting that obituary was. I was determined to find out more and think that James’ father was Mr Thomas Robinson, born in 1899 and who lived at 37 Auchinraith Road. He was a scholar at Auchinraith Primary School across the road from his house according to the 1911 census. It would appear James’ uncle Robert Robinson was there too, a coalminer at Auchinraith colliery. Unfortunately, i don’t have access to any census info after 1911, so cannot confirm what happened next, but I strongly suspect this was the family, with no other entires in Blantyre for that surname.

Thomas obviously married and had James in 1922. James’ aunt Martha appears to have passed away in Quebec in 1962 and I see multiple transatlantic voyages back and forth in the pre ww2 years, so it all seems to tie in with this family.

Are you a Robinson in Blantyre? If so, do you know of relatives in Canada?