Robert M. Stark, seedsman and florist, occupied Malta House 1856-1857[1] before moving to 7 South Charlotte Street,[2] where he was recorded in the 1861 census.[3] His nursery was at Edgehill, Dean.
Robert Mackenzie Stark was born at Dirleton, East Lothian on 17 June 1815, son of Rev. William Stark and Elizabeth Mackenzie.[4] He published A Popular History of British Mosses in 1854 and in the Transactions of the Botanical Society of Edinburgh in 1866 and 1873. He moved to England when he remarried in 1866 and died at 7 Grafton Street, London on 29 September 1873.
Robert Stark married Margaret Kerr Landsborough at Saltcoats, Ayrshire on 10 October 1848. She was the eldest daughter of Rev. David Landsborough and his wife Margaret McLeish,[5] born at Stevenston, Ayrshire on 20 August 1822.[6] She died in Edinburgh on 1 March 1864.[7]
David Landsborough was minister of the Free Church at Saltcoats and a well-known naturalist.[8] His second daughter, Isabella Landsborough, was married at Malta House on 15 October 1856 to Rev. Arthur Thomson, minister of the Free Church, Salton.[9]
[1] PO Directory 1856-57.
[2] PO Directory 1857-58.
[3] Census records. Scotland. Edinburgh. 07 April 1861. STARK, Robert (Head). 685/2 01/ 23. Ancestry collection ‘1861 Scotland Census.’ https://ancestry.co.uk: accessed 17 December 2023.
[4] Lawley, Mark. (nd) Robert Mackenzie Stark (1815-1873). British Bryological Society. https://www.britishbryologicalsociety.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/ROBERT-MACKENZIE-STARK.pdf: accessed 17 December 2023.
[5] Marriage announcements. Caledonian Mercury. 16 October 1848. STARK-LANDSBOROUGH. p. 3, col. 7. https://britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk: accessed 17 December 2023.
[6] Baptisms index (OPR) Scotland. Stevenston, Ayrshire. 15 September 1922. LANDSBOROUGH, Margaret Kerr. 615/ 30/ 14. https://scotlandspeople.gov.uk: accessed 23 October 2024.
[7] Monumental inscriptions. Scotland. Dean Cemetery, Edinburgh. 01 March 1864. LANDBOROUGH, Margaret Kerr. Ancestry collection ‘Scotland, Burial Monument Inscriptions, 1507-2019.’ https://ancestry.co.uk: accessed 23 October 2024.
[8] Stephen, Leslie. Editor. (1921-22). ‘David Landsborough.’ Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford: OUP. vol. 11, pp. 503-504. Ancestry collection ‘Dictionary of National Biography, Volumes 1-22.’ https://ancestry.co.uk: accessed 17 December 2023.
[9] Marriage announcements. Glasgow Courier. 18 October 1856. LANDSBOROUGH-THOMSON. p. 2, col. 2. https://britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk: accessed 17 December 2023.