Queensland Architects Database

Fleming, Robert

FLEMING, Robert jnr (1827–1901) gas engineer, was born in [St Helen’s, Lancashire] Liverpool, England, son of Robert Fleming, joiner, later a civil engineer and architect, and Jane Thomson. As a young child he was a passenger on one of the trains which participated in the opening of the pioneering Liverpool to Manchester Railway in 1830. After training as an engineer at Liverpool gasworks, he erected a gas works at Hamilton, near Glasgow in his early twenties, and others at Dumbarton and elsewhere in Scotland and at Halifax, Nova Scotia where he lived for several years. After returning to Scotland, he was an engineer and manager of the Bothwell and Uddingston Gas Co. Lanarkshire before he migrated to Melbourne. After carrying out several contracts there he was appointed resident engineer for the Brisbane Gas Co. Arriving in mid-1864, he ‘prepared plans of everything required” and oversaw erection of the gasworks at Petrie Bight which opened in November 1865, as well as laying gas mains in Brisbane’s streets. Brisbane’s first gas-lit house was Fleming’s own dwelling at the gas works. He remained manager for many years, adding sheds at Petrie Bight in 1874 and in 1876 a gas holder tank and residence at South Brisbane. He left Brisbane to erect gas works at Toowoomba in 1878, Warwick 1879 and Townsville 1882, before in 1883 he moved to Bundaberg to erect the gas works but where he remained as managing director until his death at his residence Clyde Bank. His brother Peter Fleming (1838–1915) who also was a plumber, gasfitter and sanitary engineer migrated to Queensland to assist Robert with the Brisbane Gas Works before establishing a long running builders’ hardware business in Brisbane in 1865.

Education

?
An engineer, gasworks, Liverpool.

Migration and Travel

1864
May-June: arr Brisbane from England.
Employed:
1864
Resident engineer, Brisbane Gas Co.
Self-employed:
c1878
Gas engineer and manager, Qld.

Genealogy

[PGF] Robert Fleming (1774–?) b. 2 Nov 1774, Dumbarton, Dunbartonshire, Scotland; d, bef, 1826

[PGM] Ann Colquhoun (1776–?) b. 1776, Dumbarton, Dunbartonshire, Scotland; d. ?

[6C/1-2B / F] Robert Fleming snr (1800–1857) b. 13 July 1800, Dumbarton, Dunbartonshire, Scotland; d. bef.1857 [joiner, later civil engineer and architect]

  • [S, 26 Jul 1827, Dumbarton, Scotland / M] Jane Thomson (1805–1889) b. 24 Mar 1805, King Edward, Aberdeenshire, Scotland; d. 21 Feb 1889, Edinburgh, Scotland
  • [6C/1-5B]Robert FLEMINGjnr (1827-1901) b. 9 Oct 1927, Lancashire, Eng; d. 23 Aug 1901, Bundaberg, Qld.
  • [S1, 24 Feb 1852 / M] Janet Robertson (1830–1855) b. 10 Oct 1830, Cumbrae, Bute, Scotland; d. 21 Mar 1855, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
  • [3C/B] Archibald Robertson Fleming (1852–1928) b. 1 Dec 1852, Millport, Great Cumbrae Is Bute, Scotland; d. Mar 1928, Melbourne Vic.
  • [3C/1-2G] Margaret Hill Fleming (1855–1855) b. 8 Feb 1855, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada; d. 24 Mar 1855 Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
  • [3C/2-2G] Janet Robertson Fleming (1855–1855) b. 8 Feb 1855, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada; d. 21 Apr 1855, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
  • [S2, 2 Feb 1857, Edinburgh, Midlothian, Scotland / M] Margaret Robertson (1836–1897) b. 28 Apr 1836, Millport, Cumbrae, Bute, Scotland; d. 9 July 1897, East Bundaberg, Qld.
  • [10C/1-5B] Robert Fleming III (1857–1926) b. 29 Sep 1857, Hamilton, Lanark, Scotland; d. 3 Aug 1926, River Road, Milton, Brisbane, Qld.
  • [10C/2-5B] William Robertson Fleming (1859–1879) b. 17 July 1859, Bothwell, Lanarkshire, Scotland; d. 16 Mar 1879, Toowoomba, Qld.
  • [10C/3-5B] John Fleming (1861–1921) b. 15 Mar 1861, Bothwell, Lanarkshire, Scotland; d. 2 Dec 1921, East Bundaberg, Qld.
  • [S, 25 Dec 1884, Qld / M] Emma Hilless (1862–1935) b. 8 Aug 1862, Ipswich, Qld; d. 12 Aug 1935, Bundaberg, Qld
  • [10C/1-5G] Margaret Jesse Robertson Fleming (1862–1941) b. 6 Nov 1862, Bothwell, Lanarkshire, Scotland; d. 15 Feb 1941, West Bundaberg, Qld.
  • [S, 9 Oct 1900. Qld / M] Charles Warren Colthurst (1854–1934) b. 1854, North Petherton, Somerset, Eng; d. 17 July 1934, West Bundaberg, Qld.
  • [10C/2-5G] Jane Victoria Fleming (1864–1949) b. 14 May 1864, Melbourne, Vic; d. 2 Aug 1949, Sydney, NSW.
  • [10C/4-5B] James Robertson Fleming (1866–1936) b. 8 Nov 1866, Brisbane, Qld; d. 28 Sep 1936, Toowong, Brisbane, Qld.
  • [10C/3-5G] Jessie Hill Fleming (1868–1940) b. 18 Nov 1868, Brisbane, Qld; d. 26 July 1940. Bundaberg, Qld.
  • [10C/4-5G] Lilly Douglas Fleming (1870–1945) b. 1 Aug 1870, Brisbane, Qld; d. 20 Mar 1945, Manly, NSW
  • [10C/5-5G] Georgina Louisa Fleming (1872–1878) b. 6 Oct 1872, Brisbane, Qld; d. 13 Feb 1878, Brisbane, Qld.
  • [10C/5-5B] George Thomson Fleming (1874–1955) b. 4 Aug 1874, Brisbane, Qld; d. 16 Apr 1955, Cairns, Qld.
  • [6C/2-5B] John Fleming (1833–1893) b. 7 Nov 1833, St Helens, Lancashire, Eng; d. 1 July 1893, Gympie, Qld.
  • [S, 13 Oct 1848, Old Monkland, Lanark / M] Elizabeth Adam Hamilton (1830–1903) b. 11 Mar 1830, Old Monkland, Lanark, Scotland; d. 1 Aug 1903, Brisbane, Qld.
  • [15C/
  • [6C/3-5B] George Fleming (1835–1913) b. 24 Feb 1835, St Helens, Lancashire, Eng; d. 20 Jan 1913, Bothwell, Lanarkshire, Scotland.
  • [S / M] Janet Cunningham (Jessie) Boyd (1838–1910) b. 5 Apr 1838, Renfrewshire, Greenock, Scotland; d. 2 July 1910, Bothwell, Lanarkshire, Scotland.
  • [5C/
  • [5C/B] George Fleming (1861–1923) b. 11 Dec 1861, Cumbrae, Bute, Scotland; d. 23 Aug 1923, Bothwell, Lanarkshire, Scotland.
  • [6C/G] Jane Fleming (1837–?) b. 1837, Lanarkshire, Eng; d. ?
  • [6C/ 4-5B] Peter FLEMING (1838–1915) b. 16 Dec 1838, Old Swan, West Derby, Lancaster, Eng; d. 1 Feb 1915, South Brisbane, Qld
  • [S, 11 Sep 1861, Bothwell, Lanark / M] Ann Hamilton Scott (1842–1928) b. 28 May 1842, Bellshill, North Lanarkshire, Scotland; d. 9 July 1928, South Brisbane, Qld.
  • [6C/5-5B] William Fleming (1841–?) b. 1841. Lanarkshsire, Eng; d. ?

References

Queensland Daily Guardian: 2 May 1864, 2; 12 Sep 1864, 1; 24 Nov 1865, 3; 30 Nov 1865, 22; 7 Feb 1865, 3 and 24 Nov 1865, 3; Brisbane Courier, 4 Sep 1869, 2; Telegraph, 16 May 1876, 3; Queenslander: 28 Apr 1883, 647; Maryborough Chronicle, 26 Aug 1901, 2.