Highland Scots - Inverness & area:
Robert Patterson

Robert Patterson, from Inverness, was appointed Commissary of Stores for Demerara in 1801, having previously served in this role in Martinique. He had been in correspondence with Provost William Inglis of Inverness, before Inglis’ suicide in 1801, and the provost’s brother, George, continued the connection, asking Patterson to find a position for ‘a fine lad’ from Inverness, William Mackintosh [Inverness Museum, Letter Book of George Inglis, 22 May 1801].

Patterson returned, temporarily, to Inverness in 1807, carrying £100 back on behalf of his fellow Invernessian, Donald Mackay [NAS GD23/6/391/8] and in December of that year, in Edinburgh, he married Catherine Haywood of Inverness [Monthly Magazine and British Register, 1808 and OPR 685/03 0170 0188]. This marriage may be that referred to by Edward Fraser (of Reelig) in a letter from Berbice written in April 1808, in which he told his mother that 'Alex Fraser was mad about Miss Heywood's marriage', adding that she had 'jilted two or three gentlemen in the country' [Reelig papers]. Catherine Haywood died in Demerara on 29 September 1824, at which point Robert Patterson was described as 'of Union Plantation, Essequibo" [Inverness Courier - Thursday 23 December 1824].

In 1815 his son, John Winter Patterson, was born in Demerara and was later a pupil at Edinburgh Academy [Edinburgh Academy Register].

Robert Patterson died in Inverness in October 1828, having become ‘an imbecile’ and deeply in debt [NAS GD23/6/658].