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Born at Galt, Ontario on 27 November 1865, he was first employed as a machinist. He learned the photographic trade in his brother’s studio at Waterford, Ontario before operating his own studios at Halifax, Nova Scotia and later at Windsor, Ontario before coming to Winnipeg around 1906 and opening a studio on Main Street. He remained active as a photographer up to the day of his death.
He and wife Harriet May “Hattie” Curry (1864-1919) had five children: J. Kenneth Robson (1897-?), William Gordon Robson (1900-?), Allan Vair Robson (1900-?), Eleanor Robson (1906-?, wife of Samuel L. Thompson), and Laurie Curry Robson (1907-?). An avid curler, he was an original member and President (1923-1924) of the Strathcona Curling Club. In 1933, he was made an honorary life member of the Manitoba Curling Association. He was also a member and President of the Assiniboine Lawn Bowling Club, and a member of the Winnipeg Rotary Club and Knox United Church.
He died at his Winnipeg home, 39 Polson Avenue, on 16 April 1946 and was buried in the Elmwood Cemetery.
Year(s)
Address
1906-1922
6 - 490 Main Street (Freeman Block), Winnipeg
1922-1946
214 - 317 Portage Avenue (Kennedy Building), Winnipeg
1901 Canada census, Automated Genealogy.
Death registration [Hattie Robson], Manitoba Vital Statistics.
Henderson’s Winnipeg and Brandon Directories, Henderson Directories Limited, Peel’s Prairie Provinces, University of Alberta Libraries.
“W. W. Robson,” Manitoba Free Press, 28 January 1922, page 48.
“William Robson, pioneer Winnipeg photographer dies,” Winnipeg Free Press, 17 April 1946. [Manitoba Legislative Library, Biographical Scrapbook B9]
Obituary, Winnipeg Free Press, 18 April 1946, page 16.
Obituaries and burial transcriptions, Manitoba Genealogical Society.
This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.
Page revised: 1 August 2023
Manitoba Photographers: 1858 to Present
A list of professional photographers who have worked in Manitoba, from 1858 to the present, compiled by the Manitoba Historical Society.
© 2006-2023
Gordon Goldsborough & Manitoba Historical Society. All rights reserved.
