Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Mackenzie, Robert (1823-1881)
MACKENZIE, ROBERT (1823–1881), miscellaneous writer, born in 1823 at Barry, Forfarshire, where his father was parish schoolmaster, was educated by his father and at a school at St. Andrews. The family moved to Dundee, and Mackenzie was apprenticed as a clerk in a merchant's office, He served in various situations, but about 1843 became reporter to the 'Northern Warder,' which he afterwards sub-edited. He quitted journalism for commerce, and became partner in the firm of Mackenzie, Ramsay & Co., which failed after the crisis of 1857. He then returned to journalism, frequently visited America, and wrote a few books. Just before his death he was actively engaged as agent for the Westinghouse Brake Company. He died at his house in Magdalen Yard Road, Dundee, on 2 Feb. 1881. He had married, first, a daughter of John Home Scott, and secondly a daughter of William Cunningham (1805-1861) [q. v.], and left four children.
His chief works were: 1. 'The United States of America. A History,' London, 1870, 8vo. 2. 'The Nineteenth Century. A History,' London, 1880, 8vo; abridged in 1881 as 'The Reign of Queen Victoria,' 3. 'America. A History,' London, 1882, 8vo. He also edited with notes in 1883 an incomplete edition of 'Gulliver's Travels.'
[Dundee Advertiser, 8 Feb. 1881; Northern Warder, 4 Feb. 1881; Brit. Mus. Cat.]