Robert RUBIDGE had various occupations. He was apprenticed at about 14 to Walter Hattam, Musicians Company. His father is given as Samuel Rubidge, brushmaker of St Mary Axe in the City of London. This company was set up to regulate the activities of professional musicians but it is not know in what capacity Robert Rubidge was apprenticed. Be that as it may, Robert does not appear in the Company's list of freemen so presumably he did not complete his apprenticeship. At the time of his son Charles' birth in 1787, Robert is described as a hosier and later as a commission traveller in

The Times, Dec 20^th 1811

in which the question of the beneficiaries of Anthony Mangin's estate was to be decided in the Court of Common Pleas. He died intestate in 1803 leaving a large fortune.  More of that anon.

In 1785, Robert married Margaret Ann GILMOUR of Basinghall Street, London at St Dunstan's Stepney, and at some point Robert and Margaret Ann or Ann as she seems to have been known, lived in Dublin for two of their children are buried there. They must have left London some time after 1791 for their daughter Mary Ann was baptised in St Olave, Hart Street, London in 1791 but was buried in 1792 in St Michael's Church, Dublin. A still born child was buried in Dublin in 1795 after which we find another stillborn child buried in St Mary Bermondsey, Southwark in 1800 in the 'same grave as its mother'.  Since Robert was described as a 'commission traveller', this may explain why he went to Dublin. St Michael's Church is no longer extant although the tower still stands and is located in what was the mediaeval part of the city.

I
St Michael's Church tower (R) , Dublin with bridge to Christchurch cathedral

Robert Henry RUBIDGE (1786-1859) was their first son.

Robert married again, this time to Eleanor Lark PAYNE, aunt to Hannah Payne JONES, in 1800, a few months after his wife's death. With Eleanor he had several more children including the painter Joseph William, known as William (1802 -1827).

We know that Robert felt deeply about his family for he faithfully recorded their arrivals and departures in the pages of a family bible, now in Canada, whence several of his children emigrated and where Eleanor died in 1835. Robert himself died in 1829 and was buried in the non-conformist burial ground of Mr Clayton's Locksfields in Walworth, South London.