Old Photograph Glasgow Street Millport Scotland

Old photograph of shops, houses and people walking on Glasgow Street in Millport on the island of Cumbrae in the Firth of Clyde, in North Ayrshire, Scotland. David Robertson was a Scottish naturalist and geologist who founded the University Marine Biological Station, Millport. He was born in 1806 in Glasgow. From age 8 he worked as a herd boy in Ayrshire, but eventually went on to gain a medical degree. His interests turned to the study of Natural History in the town he regularly visited, Millport, in the Firth of Clyde. He studied the local flora and fauna and established Millport as a significant area for marine biological research. In 1885 he had the Ark, an old floating laboratory, drawn up on shore, at Port Loy, Cumbrae. He persuaded members of the professional and business community in Glasgow to fund a permanent marine research station there. Work was progressing on the building of the present Marine Station and museum when Robertson died aged 90 in 1896. The station opened in 1897 and consisted of a laboratory, museum, and public aquarium. History Blog post of interest to folks with ancestry, genealogy or Scottish Family Roots in Scotland who may wish to travel and visit one day.



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