Canadian militia as Lieutenant and quartermaster of the Montreal Light Infantry. He was appointed Justice of the Peace in 1884. In 1872, he became a governor of the Montreal General Hospital, and later served as its treasurer, vice-president, and president. On his death he left $5,000 to the hospital. Robertson was also president of the Montreal Board of Trade in 1876 and 1877, and of the Dominion Board of Trade in 1876. He was the first president in 1874 of the Commercial Travellers' Association of Canada, president of the Royal Canadian Insurance Company from 1876 to 1890, and president of the Bell Telephone Company of Canada from its establishment in 1880 until his death. He was closely associated with Andrew Allan and Alexander Walker Ogilvie in forming the Citizens' Gas Company which in the early 1880s attempted unsuccessfully to challenge the domination of the Montreal Gas Company. In 1881, he journeyed to British Columbia with Sir Charles Tupper, who described Robertson as a "merchant prince," in order to report on the feasibility of the Canadian Pacific Railway building a line between Victoria and Nanaimo. Although Robertson recommended such a move, the CPR did not undertake the construction. Andrew also became active in politics and a bi-product of his Tory affiliations was an appointment to the Montreal Harbour Commission by Sir John A. Macdonald in 1878. He soon was made chairman and held this position until his death. While he had many major achievements in business and in the community, Andrew Robertson's most notable achievement was with the harbour commission. He dealt with a large deficit that he had inherited and undertook improvements to the harbour that kept it competitive in the shipping industry. Family In 1850, Robertson had married his wife Agnes Bow in Glasgow, the daughter of merchant Alexander Bow of Glasgow. In 1853, they emigrated to Montreal with their two eldest children. Their remaining eight children were all born in Montreal. The family lived at 'Elmbank' off Dorchester Street in the Golden Square Mile. Two children died young, and of the eight who survived they included, Captain Alexander Robertson (1851–1928) J.P., married Laura Ellen Bond, daughter of the Rt. Rev. William Bennett Bond, Bishop of Montreal and 2nd Primate of the Anglican Church of Canada Mary Robertson, married James Stewart Tupper, son of Sir Charles Tupper, 6th Prime Minister of Canada Isabella Robertson, known as Bella, married in