Robert Thorburn

Robert Macfie Thorburn FRSE (1828–1896) was a 19th-century Swedish-Scots businessman and Swedish politician. Life He was born in Kasen near Goteburg in Sweden on 27 April 1828, one of ten children of William Thorburn (1780-1851) and his wife Janet Mafie (1790-1863), both from Scotland. Janet was the sister of Robert Andrew Macfie, after whom Robert was named. The family had moved from Scotland to Sweden in 1823 to help resolve financial difficulties in the firm of "Brodie & Thorburn" (set up by his younger brother James Thorburn and fellow Scot, William Brodie). He was probably sent to Edinburgh for schooling, and certainly had a circle of Edinburgh friends. In 1851, when his father died, he and his brother, William Franklin Thorburn, took over the family import and shipping company, "William Thorburn and Sons" who seemed to deal in tea. He also had interests in the company "Macfie Lindsay & Co" who dealt in sugar.