James Burton Robertson

James Burton Robertson (born in London on 15 Nov., 1800, and died in Dublin on 14 Feb., 1877) was an English historian. His father Thomas Robertson was a landed proprietor in Grenada, West Indies, which is where James spent his boyhood. In 1809 his mother brought him to England, where he was educated for 9 years at St. Edmund's College, Old Hall. He commenced his legal studies soon after, and in 1825 was called to the bar. Instead of practising law he studied philosophy and theology in France under the influence of his friends Lamennais and Gerbet. In 1835 he published his translation of Friedrich Schlegel's Philosophy of History, which saw many editions. Whilst living in Germany and Belgium between 1837 and 1854 he translated Möhler's Symbolism, adding an introduction and Möhler biography. That book heavily influenced some of the Oxford Tractarians. So much so that in 1855 John Henry Newman nominated Robertson for the position of professor of geography and modern history in the Catholic University of Ireland. There he published two series of lectures (1859 and 1864), as well as Lectures on Edmund Burke (1869), and a translation of Dr. Hergenröther's Anti Janus (1870) which included a history of Gallicanism. He wrote the poem, The Prophet Enoch (1859), and authored several articles in the Dublin Review. In 1869 his services to literature resulted in a pension from the Government in 1869, and in 1873 the award of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy from Pius IX.