Robert Hawthorn, Senior
1770 Born[1]
1789 Married Alice Burn in Shilbottle, Northumberland[2]
For more than fifty years Robert Hawthorn was engineer to the owners of Walbottle Colliery, near Newcastle; he was a man of great mechanical ability.
1796 Birth of son Robert, in a cottage on the north side of Dewley Burn, near Walbottle.
1799 Birth of son William
George Stephenson was said to be indebted to Robert for much valuable mechanical information, which he afterwards successfully applied to work intrusted to him for execution, and when he became a resident at Killingworth (1804), he made many journeys to Walbottle to obtain the benefit of Mr. Hawthorn’s advice.[3]
Robert Hawthorn, senior, was frequently consulted on engineering questions, and more than once by the Caledonian Canal Company on important features in connection with their works.
1841 An engineer, living in Newburn[4]
1842 Died in Castle Ward, Northumberland[5]