Monday, 12 May 2025

Robert Abraham (August 14, 1804 - November 10, 1854): Medical Doctor, Writer, Editor, Lawyer: The first to report on the tracks we now call Protichnites

 In my August 29, 2013 blog posting entitled “Abraham, Logan and Owen: The Discovery of the First Protichnites trackways " I described the first reporting of  trackways at Beauharnois, Quebec by Robert Abraham in an 1847 edition of the Montreal Gazette newspaper, and Logan’s and Owen’s subsequent descriptions of the trackways in scientific journals.  I also  provided a few details on Robert Abraham life.   In this posting I will provide additional details on Robert Abraham.

GEOLOGICAL WRITINGS OF ROBERT ABRAHAM

In my earlier blog posting I provided extracts from  Robert Abraham’s 1851 article entitled

“Tracks of a Chelonian Reptile in the Lower Silurian formation, at Beauharnois” where he described finding the tracks at Beauharnois that we now call Protichnites. 

I was able to find only one other geological paper authored by Robert Abraham: a single page 1842 report entitled “Geology of the Ward of Allerdale above Derwent” which appeared in a book entitled ‘The History and Antiquities of Allerdale Ward, above Derwent, in the county of Cumberland’.  Allerdale Above Derwent lies within the Lake District National Park in Cumberland.  This is part of Robert Abraham’s submission:

      “ At the back of the Ward we find mountains of red granite. Gable is the centre, at the head of the valleys of Wasdale, Ennerdale, and Borrowdale, and the minor ones of Miterdale and Calder. In the depths of these valleys lie the lakes, cavities scooped out when the elevation of the mountains took place, and afterwards filled with water. Reposing on the granite are mountains of great elevation, of trap or primitive rocks. At the bases of these, climbing their sides, or occupying the valleys, we find the transition rocks, principally grauwacke and clay-slate. In the latter are found the minerals, namely calcareous and siliceous spars, and the ores of zinc, silver, lead, antimony, manganese, and other metals.

     Coming now to the secondary formations, we have first the blue or mountain limestone, full of marine remains, and rich in the hapatic iron ore. A broad belt of it extends from the Derwent to the Ehcn, namely from Cockermouth to Egremont. At the latter town it is lost, and is not seen again until we reach the other extremity of the Ward, the borders of the Duddon, near Broughton in Furness.

     The next formation is the coal measures, which in various degrees of productiveness occupies the whole country from the limestone to the sea under which it dips, from the Derwent to Whitehaven. This formation contains the gray iron ore, plastic clay, and ferruginous shale.

     To the southwest of Whitehaven, at St. Bees head, we find the new red sandstone with gypsum and magnesian limestone, overlying the coal measures, which are thrown down ninety fathoms and cut off by dykes injected with trap or basalt from beneath.

As Robert Abraham was a medical graduate of Edinburgh University it is not surprising that he had more than a basic understanding of geology, as  other medical graduates of Edinburgh University contributed to the geological knowledge of Canada during the 1800's, include Dr. James Wilson, Dr. Andrew Fernando Holmes and Dr. Bigsby (see my blog postings).  It is also worth noting that William Logan enrolled at Edinburgh University as a medical student,  did  well scholastically, but left after a year to work.

DETAILS OF ROBERT ABRAHAM’S LIFE

Robert Abraham was  born at Penrith, Cumbria, England on August 14, 1804.   He was the eldest son of  Thomas Abraham and  Orpah Abraham (née Clarke).    Robert Abraham had a sister Mary, a brother John born in 1813 who was a distinguished  pharmaceutical chemist in Liverpool, and five other siblings who died in infancy.  Robert Abraham’s father is reported to have worked as an accountant and also as a schoolmaster.  Interestingly, Robert’s brother John Abraham was arguably even more  accomplished than his brother.   Amongst other things John was founder of the Liverpool  Naturalists’ Field Club,  president of the Liverpool Microscopical Society, was involved in forming the Gallery of Inventions and Science in connection with the Free Library and Museum, and helped found  Liverpool’s School of Pharmacy (see Cox, 2019).

Robert Abraham’s father Thomas Abraham was  born in Seaton, Cumberland in England.    In 1803 in Penrith, Cumberland, Thomas Abraham married Orpah Clarke.   Thomas outlived his eldest son Robert, and died in Carlisle in 1861, aged 91, having lived his whole life in Cumberland.   Robert Abraham’s mother died at Carlisle in 1833.

Robert Abraham married Sarah Seed, but I have not been able to determine the date of the wedding.  When Robert Abraham  died at Montreal, Canada on November 10, 1854 he left a widow (assumed to be Sarah), and no children. 

Robert Abraham studied medicine at the University of Edinburgh, starting his studies in 1823, and graduating in 1825.  He was a Member of the London College of Physicians and a practicing surgeon, first at Guy's Hospital in London, then at Carlisle in Cumberland.   The dates on articles that he published in medical journals suggest that the practiced medicine from at least 1825 to 1827.    One source says that he gave up his practice in Carlisle as a qualified medical man to edit the Whitehaven Herald  which suggests that he practiced medicine only from 1825 to 1831.   However, his obituary notice in The Farmer’s Journal mentions that he  practiced his medical profession  during his time in Whitehaven.

 Robert Abraham  was the first editor of the Whitehaven Herald, with issue one published on August 30, 1831.  The newspaper is said to have been started at the time of passing of the Reform Act (that expanded voting privileges and reapportioned constituencies to address the unequal distribution of seats) to counter the influence of the Lowther family in Cumberland.   Robert Abraham remained  editor of Whitehaven Herald newspaper for five and a half years, leaving on  March 14, 1837, when he published a farewell (valedictory) letter to readers.      He later worked as medical editor of a Liverpool newspaper.   I have not been able to determine whether he practiced medicine in Liverpool.

About 1843, Robert Abraham came to Canada, where he became the proprietor and editor of the Montreal Gazette newspaper.  He is credited with being the first to issue daily issues of the Gazette, which he introduced in 1844 during the summer months, the time of peak commercial activity.    His connection with the Gazette continued until December, 1848, when he disposed of the paper to Mr. Ferres, and retired from its management.  

In 1849 he became senior editor of the Transcript, also a Montreal paper, and the first editor of a Lower Canada agricultural journal, which was known as the Agricultural journal and Transactions of the Lower Canada Agricultural Society from 1948 to 1952 and as The Farmer's Journal and Transactions of the Lower Canada Board of Agriculture starting in 1953.   An obituary notice for Robert Abraham appears in the December, 1854 edition of The Farmer’s Journal, and is repeated with few changes in the January, 1855 edition of The Canadian Agriculturist.  That obituary notice mentions that Mr. Abraham,  “who has conducted the Farmer’s Journal from its commencement, and who gave in its pages such earnest evidence of his deep seated interest in agricultural pursuits, ... was born, in the fine grazing and agricultural county of Cumberland . ... Mr. Abraham was originally a man of robust and herculean frame, and was famous as a young man for excelling in all the manly and athletic sports and, exercises, which prevail in the rural districts of the northern counties of England.”

Interestingly, Robert Abraham  was editor of both the Whitehaven Herald and the Montreal Gazette for under six years, about the same amount of time that he would have edited a Liverpool journal, and the period of time he edited the Montreal Transcript and The Farmer’s Journal.

Robert Abraham was called as an advocate to the Bar of Lower Canada on May 10, 1849.    In 1849 he published a well researched and informative legal booklet entitled “Some remarks upon the French tenure of "franc aleu roturier", and on its relation to the feudal and other tenures.”   In 1851 he was appointed as assistant solicitor of Montreal by the municipal council, under pressure from English speaking members, to assist Toussaint Peltier, a high profile French speaking lawyer.    His appointment has been criticized by Beullac and Surveyer (1949) in their history of the bar in Quebec who commented that Abraham’s work as editor was poor preparation for the Bar. 

 Penrith where Robert Abraham was born is a market town in Cumbria, England. It is less than 3 miles (5 km) outside the Lake District National Park and about 17 miles (27 km) south of Carlisle.  It is about 180 km (110 miles) south of Edinburgh, Scotland, and 170 km (105 miles) north of Liverpool.   Whitehaven is a town and port in Cumberland near the Lake District National Park.   By road Whitehaven is 38 miles (61 km) south-west of Carlisle.  London is 460 km (290miles) south of Penrith.   Montreal is 5,200 km (3,300 miles)  from Penrith.  I mention those places and distances  as they were all mentioned in this post, and it seemed strange that Robert Abraham, having spent most of his life in northern England, would go to Montreal when his brother John resided in Liverpool and his father Thomas in Carlisle.   The obituary notice for Robert Abraham published in the Montreal Transcript provides the answer,  stating  that “In 1842, his first connection to Canada commenced.  The then proprietors of the Montreal Gazette required some articles on commercial topics from the old country, and Mr. Abraham was engaged to furnish them. Commercial articles ... are not calculated to gain a writer much fame; but the articles furnished by Mr. Abraham soon attracted attention, and were the admiration of all competent judges. The result of this connection was, that in the summer of 1844, Mr. Abraham became the purchaser, and assumed management of the Montreal Gazette.”

In my August 29, 2013 blog posting I mentioned that in the notice of Robert Abraham's passing the Gazette highlighted his editorial writing, but also mentioned:  “As a geologist and naturalist (particularly in his favourite branch of Natural History, Entomology) he had few equals in Canada– perhaps no superior on this continent.”   The obituary notice for Robert Abraham that appeared in Montreal’s ‘la Minerve’ newpaper mentions “Il était excellent géologue ; comme naturaliste, on va même jusquà dire qu’il n'avait peût-être pas de supérieur en Amérique.”  Which translates as ‘He was an excellent geologist; as a naturalist, some would even say that he perhaps had no equal in America.’   The obituary in the Transcript noted that “As a political writer, he was , it is not saying too much, almost without equal. ... Nor was his knowledge confined to politics and literature proper.  Take him on a scientific subject, and it was the same.”   

MEDICAL WRITING OF ROBERT ABRAHAM

Robert Abraham published four articles in medical journals:

1825– A Case of Sanguineous Apoplexy, in The Edinburgh Journal of Medical Science,

1826– On the influence of civilization on the progressive increase of, certain diseases, in The Edinburgh Journal of Medical Science;  

1827– On Medicines of whose immediate action we are conscious, in The Edinburgh Journal of Medical Science; and , 

1827– Description of an Acephalous Foetus, in the London Medical and Surgical Journal. 

The first and fourth would be considered scientific, while the second and third are more philosophical than scientific.   Only the first and fourth are mentioned in summaries of his life and accomplishments.  (It is worth noting that Dr. Robert Abraham’s diagnosis of Sanguineous Apoplexy was criticized in The Medico-Chirurgical Review, 1827 new Series, Volume 4, at pages 266, 267.)

The University of Edinburgh  has in its collection an unpublished manuscript dated 1825 by Robert Abraham entitled  "An Enquiry into the Elements of General Therapeutics, with Special Illustrations, to which is prefixed an Essay on the Nature Value and Utility of Theory".   I suspect, based on the introduction to the third published paper above,  that it was taken from this unpublished manuscript, as it is said to be “detached from a larger and systematic work on the operations of medicines.”  

As Robert Abraham was editor of the Whitehaven Herald newspaper for close to six years ending March 14, 1837,  medical editor of a Liverpool newspaper, possibly from 1837 to 1843, editor of the Montreal Gazette newspaper from 1844 to 1848, editor of the Montreal Transcript newspaper from 1849 to 1854, and editor of  The Farmer's Journal from 1948 to 1954,  I assume that there are numerous medical articles that might be found by a diligent sleuth.   For example, the January, 1848  issue of the Agricultural journal and transactions of the Lower Canada Agricultural Society contains a two page article on typhus, which I attribute to Robert Abraham.

 MCGILL UNIVERSITY ARCHIVES

McGill University’s Archives has copies of various letters that Robert Abraham wrote to and received from family members, letters and notices published in Newspapers, and documents relating to the sale of the Montreal Gazette.  See:

https://archivalcollections.library.mcgill.ca/index.php/correspondence-by-robert-abraham

The documents  include:

 - an obituary notice for Robert Abraham published in the Montreal Transcript on November 14, 1854

https://digitalarchives.library.mcgill.ca/RBSC/MSG1112/rbsc_msg1112_abraham-family-letters-folder35.pdf

- a letter that he wrote dated March 7, 1830 published in the Carlisle Journal dealing with staffing of surgeons at the Carlisle Dispensary and Infirmary

https://archivalcollections.library.mcgill.ca/index.php/letter-to-the-carlisle-journal-1830

- Robert Abraham’s valedictory letter dated March 14, 1837 addressed to readers published in The Whitehaven Herald

https://digitalarchives.library.mcgill.ca/RBSC/MSG1112/rbsc_msg1112_abraham-family-letters-folder26.pdf

- an issue of the Montreal Gazette, dated  August 26, 1843, edited by Robert Abraham

https://digitalarchives.library.mcgill.ca/RBSC/MSG1112/rbsc_msg1112_abraham-family-letters-folder27.pdf

-  an issue of the Montreal Gazette, dated October 16, 1848, edited by Robert Abraham

https://digitalarchives.library.mcgill.ca/RBSC/MSG1112/rbsc_msg1112_abraham-family-letters-folder29.pdf

- a letter dated November 9, 1849 From Robert Abraham to the Editor of the Montreal Courier, published in the November 12, 1849 edition of the  Evening Courier of Montreal, responding to innuendos raised against Robert Abraham in a pamphlet by Major MacDougall of the Royal Canadian Rifles, arising from the  cross-examination of MacDougall by Abraham in a matter relating to a duel

Christopher Brett

Ottawa, Ontario


REFERENCES, SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY AND SUGGESTED READING

Agricultural journal and transactions of the Lower Canada Agricultural Society

https://www.canadiana.ca/view/oocihm.8_04880


Anonymous, 1854   Mort d'un réducteur. [Translation: Death of a journalist,  la Minerve, 14 novembre 1854 [ an  obituary notice of the death of Robert Abraham that appeared in Montreal’s  French language newspaper la Minerve.]

https://numerique.banq.qc.ca/patrimoine/details/52327/4130267?docsearchtext=robert%20abraham

Anonymous, 1854  An untitled  obituary notice for Robert Abraham published in the Montreal Transcript on November 14, 1824

https://digitalarchives.library.mcgill.ca/RBSC/MSG1112/rbsc_msg1112_abraham-family-letters-folder35.pdf

Anonymous, December 1854  Robert Abraham Late Editor of the Farmer’s Journal.  The Farmer's Journal and Transactions of the Lower Canada Board of Agriculture, vol. 2, no. 8, pages 123- 124    https://www.canadiana.ca/view/oocihm.8_06434_20/4

Anonymous, December, 1854  a Notice of the death of Robert Abraham.  The Journal of Education for Upper Canada,  Volumes 7, No. 12, Page 200, 

 https://www.canadiana.ca/view/oocihm.8_06242_84/13

Anonymous, January, 1855   Robert Abraham Late Editor of the Farmer’s Journal.  The Canadian Agriculturist, and Journal of Transactions of the Board of Agriculture,  Volume 7, no. 1 (Jan. 1855), pages 30-31

https://www.canadiana.ca/view/oocihm.8_04016_73/37

Anonymous, 1963    The Macmillan dictionary of Canadian biography.  Publisher London : Macmillan ; New York : St Martin's.  Robert Abraham at Page 2 

https://archive.org/details/macmillandiction00wall/mode/2up

Anonymous, 2025 [?]  Abraham, Robert, fl 1823-1825 (Physician, journalist and lawyer; University of Edinburgh alumnus).  Archives Space at Edinburgh. University of Edinburgh Archive and Manuscript Collections   [fl: The floruit date refers to the time when the person was known to be active]

https://archives.collections.ed.ac.uk/agents/people/19648

 Abraham, Robert,  1825   A Case of Sanguineous Apoplexy.  The Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal, 1825 Oct 1; 24(85): 301–304. “By, Robert Abraham, Surgeon, and Member of the Physical Society of Guy’s Hospital.”  Dated at end “Worcester, March 14, 1825.”

  https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5828725/

Abraham, Robert,  1826    On the influence of civilization on the progressive increase of, certain diseases, in The Edinburgh Journal of Medical Science, Vol. 1. 1826. No. 2. Apr. p. 347-53.

https://archive.org/details/edinburghjourna00unkngoog/page/847/mode/1up  

Abraham, Robert,  1827   On Medicines of whose immediate action we are conscious.  The Edinburgh Journal of Medical Science, Volume 6, pages 266-286  “By, Robert Abraham, Surgeon, Carlisle.”  Dated at end:  Carlisle, 1 October 1826.

https://archive.org/details/s1id13297170/page/266/mode/2up

Abraham, Robert,  1827  Description of an Acephalous Foetus, in London Medical and Surgical Journal , vol 57 (vol 2) 1827, No. 336 Feb p. 135-36   “By, Robert Abraham, Surgeon, Carlisle.”  Dated at end: Carlisle; December 15th, 1826

   https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5674619

Abraham, Robert, 1842   Geology of the Ward of Allerdale above Derwent, page 446 in  The History and Antiquities of Allerdale Ward, above Derwent, in the county of Cumberland: with Biographical Notices and Memoirs, by  Jefferson, Samuel.  “Communicated by Mr. Robert Abraham, of Liverpool.”

https://archive.org/details/TheHistoryAndAntiquitiesOfAllerdaleWard/page/n485/mode/1up

Abraham, Robert 1849a  Some Remarks upon the French Tenure of " Franc-Alleu Roturier," and on its relation to the Feudal and other Tenures,  Montreal: Armour and Ramsay.  pp. 81.    https://archive.org/details/cihm_22162

Abraham, Robert, 1849b   Letter to the editor of the Carlisle Journal, condemning the policy of Lord Elgin in the Rebellion losses bill, by Robert Abraham, Montreal, June 16th, 1849.  Most of the letter can be found in an article entitled ‘The Canadas - How Long Can We Hold Them?’ published in The Dublin University Magazine: A Literary and Political Journal, Vol. 34,  July to December 1849, pages 314 -330.  Letter from Abraham at pages 326 -328. 

https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.515571/page/n81/mode/2up

Abraham, Robert,  1851  Tracks of a Chelonian Reptile in the Lower Silurian formation, at Beauharnois.  The British American Medical & Physical Journal, Volume 7, No. 5,  pages 195-200

https://www.canadiana.ca/view/oocihm.8_05181_17/6?r=0&s=1

Beullac, Pierre et  Édouard Fabre Surveyer, 1949  Le centenaire du Barreau de Montréal, 1849-1949. Librairie Ducharme, Ltée., Montréal,     Page 22   https://numerique.banq.qc.ca/patrimoine/details/52327/3259522

Brett, Christopher P,  2013   Abraham, Logan and Owen: The Discovery of the First Protichnites trackways – Part 1; blog posting dated August 29, 2013 https://fossilslanark.blogspot.com/2013/08/abraham-logan-and-owen-discovery-of.html

Brett, Christopher P, 2017  Abraham, Logan and Owen: The Discovery of the First Protichnites trackways – Part 2, blog posting dated Monday, 4 September 2017;  https://fossilslanark.blogspot.com/2017/09/abraham-logan-and-owen-discovery-of.html

Brett, Christopher P, 2018  Where on the Internet to find Information on Sir William Edmond Logan, the First Director of the Geological Survey of Canada; blog posting dated Monday, 1 January 2018

https://fossilslanark.blogspot.com/2018/01

Brett, Christopher P, 2020  John Jeremiah Bigsby, M.D.(1792-1881) – Geologist, Physician, Entomologist, Author and Artist, blog posting dated Tuesday, 22 September 2020

https://fossilslanark.blogspot.com/2020/09

Collingwood, W. G. (Editor), 1866  Transactions of the Cumberland & Westmorland Antiquarian & Archaeological Society, VOLUME X.— NEW SERIES.   Robert Abraham At pages 335, 336.

https://archive.org/details/transactionsofcu10cumb_0/page/335/mode/1up

Cox, Norma, 2019  Four pharmacy education entrepreneurs in Victorian Britain: Robert Clay (1792- 1876), John Abraham (1813-1881), John Muter (1841-1911) and George Wills (1842-1932). Pharmaceutical Historian · 2019 · Volume 49/3, pages 74-82

https://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/bshp/ph/2019/00000049/00000003/art00002?crawler=true&mimetype=application/pdf

Creighton, Charles, 1891  A history of epidemics in Britain  

https://archive.org/details/historyofepidemi02crei/page/406/mode/2up

Foster, Joseph, 1871  A pedigree of the Forsters and Fosters, of the north of England, and of some of the families connected with them.    Robert Abraham, his parents and siblings at pages 10 and 19.  Place of publication not identified. Printed for private circulation. 

https://archive.org/details/pedigreeofforste00fost/page/n59/mode/2up  

 Gibb, G. Duncan (George Duncan), Sir, 1869  Discoveries in science by the medical philosopher: An oration delivered on the ninety-sixth anniversary of the Medical society of London, Monday, March 8th, 1869. London: Henry K. Lewis, 62 pages,  https://archive.org/details/b24882215/mode/2up 

Morgan,  Henry James, 1867   Bibliotheca Canadensis: Or, A Manual of Canadian Literature. G. E. Desbarats, Ottawa.        Robert Abraham at  Pages 4 and 5 

https://archive.org/details/bibliothecacana01morggoog/page/n20/mode/1up

p, Harriet   Sept., 2020  Cholera, flu, whooping cough: welcome to the 1830s, a blog posting on web site  Port Carlisle – a history built on hope

https://crimesofthecenturies.com/index.php/2020/09/27/cholera-flu-epidemics-1830s/

“In 1830s Cumbria (as the rest of Britain), epidemics/pandemics were a constant threat to life.... [it] …was a time of much sickness of other kinds — the Asiatic cholera of 1831-32, the influenza of 1831, 1833, and 1836-37, and the general unhealthiness of the year 1837.”

Ward, Thomas Humphry,  1885  Men of the reign; a biographical dictionary of eminent persons of British and colonial birth who have died during the reign of Queen Victoria; Publisher, G. Routledge and Son, London, New York;  Robert Abraham at page 2. https://archive.org/details/menofreignbiogra00wardrich/page/2/mode/1up