A LONDON CHARACTER

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3048, 9 April 1917, Page 3

A LONDON CHARACTER

For many years the figure of anhin-j tidy, distracted, Jittlo old man, always walking at a rapid pace, has been familiar in the streets of Central Loti- , don (says the "Daily Chronicle"). Ho will be seen there no more, for at a Southwark inquest a. verdict of death from cold and exposure was returned on Thomas Stuart Kobertson—that was the old 1 man's name. Ho came from Australia thirty years ago, and at once attracted attention by his eccentric appearance. Robertson wore a clerical hat, round which was fastened a card bearing his name, and for some reasons best known to himself he generally had his socks drawn over the ends of his trousers. Several reasons were advanced to account for Robertson's arrival in this country from Australia. One story was that ho had com© in search of a dearly loved lost daughter, who had disappeared from her home. His failure to find her was said to have unbalanced his mind. Another explanation was that he came from Australia to tell the then Prince of Wales .that he was in danger of being murdered. Robertson did, in fact, call at Marlborough House, and was arrested and sent to a lunatic asylum for a time. Latterlv Robertson, who was 78, had been living on an old age pension, eked out with some help from a West End resident.