Charles James JOHNSTONE

1899, Charles James Johnstone, Esq., "New Bath", Greenisland, the last High Sheriff of Carrickfergus.  He was the youngest son of Thomas Johnstone, "Whinfield" and "Glenfield" and Eleanor Glenfield.  He married Elizabeth Houston who was the sister of Thomas Houston, Esq., J. P. of Carnmoney.  He was in the stockbroking business.  His sons were associated with him in business.  He died at "New Bath" in 1901.

"Mr Johnstone was for many years a member of the Grand Jury, and as the last High Sheriff of the County of the Town, prior to its inclusion under the Local Government Act for Assizes purposes in County Antrim, acquitted himself with marked ability."

The above paragraph is from the 'Biographical Sketches of Sheriffs', page 507 of McSkimin: "History and Antiquities of Carrickfergus", New Edition.

(It is rather a pity that when they put together "Old Families of Carrickfergus and Ballynure from Gravestone Inscriptions and Biographical Notes", compiled by George Rutherford and edited by Richard Clarke that they missed his gravestone in the North Road Cemetery completely!  I have included a photograph of it in the Tree.)
 

Robert JOHNSTONE

Born circa 1808 and reputed to have died *11 September 1891 at Loch Lomond aged 84 leaving four sons and two daughters.  He was married to Mary Crawford in 1838 in Ayrshire and is listed as a "Coal Shipper" on the 1841 census and a "Master Shoemaker employing 17 men" on the 1851 census. Robert and Mary moved back to Carrickfergus between 1854 and 1856.

(All my attempts to locate a death certificate in Ireland and Scotland to confirm this date have been unsuccessful so far.)

Robert Johnstone, "Shipyard" succeeded Bowman, Logan and Co. in Carrickfergus and built his first ship in 1861. By 1868 he employed, as his shipyard manager, his son-in-law Paul Rodgers, who since 1864 had gained a reputation in the Johnstone yard for his yacht and schooner designs.  Rodgers became proprietor of the Carrickfergus yard in 1870. However, he didn't build his first vessel until 1874.

(Some of the information about Robert Johnstone is from a flyer on the Result.  The Result was the last surviving schooner built in Carrickfergus.  She was built of steel in 1892-93 by Paul Rodgers but completed by Robert Kent and Co.

*The death date for Robert is from the Rodgers entry on page 29 in "Old Families of Carrickfergus and Ballynure from Gravestone Inscriptions and Biographical Notes", compiled by George Rutherford and edited by Richard Clarke.  It should also be noted Paul Rodgers was born in 1833 not 1834 as the entry says.)