George Downie [SEP] date of death
George Downie
George Downie (19 January 1778 – 11 September 1814) was a Scottish officer of the British Royal Navy who, during the War of 1812, commanded a British squadron which fought an American squadron on Lake Champlain in the Battle of Plattsburgh, during which he was killed.
Biography.
Biography Background and early career.
Downie was born in the village of Tong near Stornoway on the Isle of Lewis in the Scottish Outer Hebrides, the son of The Reverend John Downie, minister of Stornoway, and Charlotte
has been claimed as 10 Aug 1874, however the date of 16 Sep 1866 is evidenced by his official birth record. He was educated to elementary level at Bourke, where his family moved after his father's alleged death when Stuart-Robertson was 4 years old. Despite the rumour that Robert senior had died during the 1870s in Queensland, Robert senior died on 3 July 1899 at George Street Asylum, Parramatta, New South Wales.
Stuart-Robertson undertook a number of unsuccessful retail businesses in Bourke and Cobar. During