Robert Johnston (1783–1839) was a plantation owner in Jamaica and an investor in the London & Greenwich Railway.
He was the son of Alexander Johnston (died 1786), owner of the Murphy's Penn estate in Saint Ann Parish, Jamaica, and his wife Elizabeth Collett Gilbert.[1] [2] He went on a European Grand Tour towards the end of the Napoleonic Wars, after schooling in Aberdeen.[1] He visited Moscow in 1812, after its burning.[3]
Later Johnston owned the Harmony Hill estate in Jamaica, for which he received compensation.[1] He moved in 1833 to Rhode Island, at the period of emancipation.[4]
Johnston was one of the founders of the Southampton and London Railway and Dock Company, in 1831, with George Walter, and Abel Rous Dottin, also from Jamaica and a relation. The company failed.[5] [6] He had had earlier business associations with Walter.[3] Planning for the London & Greenwich Railway occurred at an initial meeting held in Dottin's house in Argyle Street, London, where Johnston was present.[5] After a time on the board of the company, he left it with his emigration to the United States.[3]
Johnston married in 1818 Catherine Cole Taylor, heiress to Harmony Hill.[1] Their daughter Mary married Samuel Powel (1818–1885), son of John Hare Powel.[7]