McManus 168

Robert Yeaman was the son of Alexander Yeaman and his wife Helen Watt.^[1]  He was born in Kinnettles, Angus in 1819.^[1]  Robert’s father was the overseer of the Douglastown Spinning Mill, which was the first powered mill in Scotland.^[17] Robert’s father’s first marriage to Ann Neish had produced eight step siblings,^[18] although not all were living at the time of Robert’s birth. Robert’s eldest step brother John was already 26 when Robert was born.^[19]

Robert also had three full siblings, James, Janet and William (who was also a banker for the Western Bank and the Royal Bank of Scotland).^[20] [21]

Robert followed his step brother John, into a banking career. He moved to Finsbury in London as a young man, where he began his working life as a clerk sometime before 1841.^[22][16] Over the next twenty years he worked in the heart of London’s financial district at the Union Bank of London.^[23] In 1853 Robert was a councillor representing the Union Bank at the founding of “The Banking Institute”, a new organisation intended to promote sound banking practice. Largely due to the early death of one of the main founding figures behind the movement, the Institute closed just a year later.^[14]In 1861 Robert is a fundholder, and continued to work for the Union Bank in London.^[12]

In 1864 after being appointed as the Dundee Agent for the City of Glasgow Bank, Robert returned to Dundee, having lived in England for more than 22 years. He purchased a home Craigie Lee at Craigie Terrace, Ferry Road, Dundee.^[9][11] The City of Glasgow Bank was located in Reform Street, Dundee.^[15]  In 1867 Robert moved to 6 Balgillo Terrace, Seafield.^[24] In 1869-1870 Robert Yeaman was a trustee of the Forfarshire Permanent Property Investment Company, and in 1871, Robert also became an agent for Imperial Insurance (Fire).^[8] Robert was active in the local community, taking the position of treasurer for the Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA), a post that he held for many years.^[8] Around this time Robert became a subscriber towards the founding of the Albert Institute (later to be known as the McManus Museum and Art Gallery).

In 1874 at the age of 54, Robert left the bank and went into partnership with stockbroker, David Halley, in a firm named Halley & Yeaman.  Robert became a public accountant, and they set up their offices at 2 Royal Exchange Place in Dundee. The company continued to act as an agency for Imperial Insurance (Fire), and they were also agents for Reliance Mutual Life Assurance Society.^[13][8]

In July of 1876, Robert’s older brother John Yeaman passed away suddenly in Forfar.^[25] Robert was one of the main beneficiaries to what was a substantial estate left by his unmarried brother.^[26] Shortly after in October 1878, The City of Glasgow Bank (his former employer), suddenly and dramatically collapsed sending shockwaves throughout Scotland and leaving many of its 1200 shareholders destitute.^[27]

Soon after this event Robert retired, now independently wealthy. By 1881 he had had a house built at 14 The Lee, Corstophine, a suburb of Edinburgh. It is questioned whether he ever resided in it, although he does appear on the 1881 Census, living there with two servants.^[28][2] Within a year or two of the home’s completion, Robert had returned to Dundee, although he still owned the Corstophine property until it was sold in April 1884.^[29] In 1891 Robert was lodging at 5 James Place in Broughty Ferry.^[30] He was blessed with a large circle of friends around Dundee, where he lived out his final years, before he passed away suddenly on the morning of 23 August 1897 at his residence at Balgillo Cottage, Brook Street in Broughty Ferry.^[5][2] He was 77 years of age, and was laid to rest in Newmonthill Cemetery, Forfar.^[6] Robert never married.^[2]