Major Robert Unwin
(1832-1892)
8 September 1862
Volume 9, page 183, sitting number 11,730.
[The sitter is identified as ‘Major Unwin’ in the Silvy daybooks. Hart’s Army List (1862) lists only two officers with this surname: Robert Unwin, a captain; and William Unwin, a lieutenant. Captain Robert Unwin became a major (by purchase) on 29 January 1862.]
Born in London on 7 September 1832, Robert Unwin was the son of stockbroker John Unwin and his wife Agnes. He was baptised on 17 October 1832 at St Mary's, Stoke Newington.
On 21 September 1865, Major Robert Unwin of the 6th Royal Regiment married Agnes, elder daughter of Walton Burrell, Esa., of Westley Hall, Bury St Edmunds (Morning Advertiser, 26 September 1865).
The couple appear on the 1871 census living at Risby in Suffolk with their son Robert, aged 3, and their daughter Agnes, aged 11 months. The household also included three female servants and Mrs Unwin’s younger sister Marion Burrell. For his profession or rank Robert Unwin gave ‘Lieut. Col. Retired 6th Foot Infantry.’
When the 1881 census was taken, a second daughter had joined the family: Violet Katherine Mary Unwin.
Robert Unwin, ‘a retired lieutenant-colonel in Her Majesty’s Army, died on 17 February 1892 at Avenue House, Aspley Guise, Bedfordshire. He was 59 years old. His estate was valued at £48,470.
‘DEATH OF COLONEL UNWIN — It is with extreme regret we have to announce the death of Lieut.-Colonel Robert Unwin, J.P., which occurred shortly after 8 p.m. on Wednesday. The deceased had been ill only a few days, but during that time he was most assiduously attended by Dr King. A sharp attack of rheumatic gout was the cause of death. The deceased gentleman will be greatly missed by the poorer inhabitants of the village, as he was very kind and liberal to them. The gallant colonel was a member of the Aspley Guise School Board, and he was a Justice of the Peace sitting on the Woburn Bench. He leaves a widow and a son and daughter to mourn his loss. The deceased officer was late of the 6th Foot’ (Bedfordshire Times and Independent, 20 February 1892).
‘Lieut.-Col. Unwin obtained his first commission from Sandhurst, without purchase, in 1850, in the 6th Royal Warwickshire Regiment. He served in the Kaffir War of 1852-53 (medal). Also in the Indian Campaign of 1858, including the operation in Jugdesport Jungle (medal). He commanded a wing of the Battalion in the operations against the Hill Tribe in Sikkim in 1861. He obtained the command of the 2nd Battalion, (raised by his cousin, General Robert Fraser, during the Crimean War) in 1856, being then only 33 years of age, one of the youngest commanding officers in the British Army. His last station was Edinburgh Castle, after the return of the regiment from Jamaica. He retired in 1867, after seventeen years’ service. […] The mortal remains of the deceased gentleman were consigned to their last resting place in the family vault, Aspley cemetery, on Monday afternoon, in the presence of a large number of spectators. […] In the absence of Mr Robert Unwin, the deceased’s only son, who was serving with his regiment in India at the time of his father’s death, the chief mourners were [a long list of mourners follows]’ (Bury and Norwich Post, 1 March 1892).