Ralph Robb (22 April 1800 – July 1850) was a Scottish clergyman.
He was born in Manor Peebles, a farm within Logie Parish, Perthshire. He was the ninth of ten children of former maltman and farmer William Rob (1749–1818), son of farmer John Rob (1698–1764) and his second wife Agnes Wright (1709–1778), and Lilias Jaffray (1756–1820), daughter of Robert Jaffray and Lilias Hill of St. Ninian's parish. William and Lilias had been married in Stirling and St. Ninian's on 15 February 1784. Robb was educated at Glasgow University, and was ordained to the Original Secession Church, Strathkiness (St Andrews) on 24 July 1827. On 8 September 1830 he married Margaret Carmichael (1808-1868) and they had seven children, six of whom later settled in Canada.[1]
Robb was instrumental in uniting the Associate Burgher Synod, of which he was Moderator in 1835, with the Church of Scotland. He joined the Church of Scotland in 1839, but only four years later joined the new Free Church of Scotland that withdrew from the established Church of Scotland following the Disruption of 1843. Although he was minister of the Free Church in Strathkiness in 1843, he soon emigrated in spring that year to Nova Scotia, serving first as Pastor to the St. John’s Presbyterian Church in Halifax. In so doing he became the first Free Church Minister to live in the New World, where several of his brothers had already settled. In January 1844 he wrote to Rev. Dr Welsh, first Chair of the General Assembly of the Free Church of Scotland, informing him of the flourishing Sabbath school, efficient Kirk Session and collections received to erect a church school. He later wrote requesting Gaelic speaking ministers to attend to the many Highland congregations in Nova Scotia. In 1845 Robb undertook a tour of southern Nova Scotia meeting Scottish settlers. From 1847 until his death in July 1850, he served the Free Colonial Church/Knox Presbyterian Church, in Hamilton, Ontario, where his brother Andrew Robb (1798-1870) was a merchant in King Street. Andrew had emigrated from Alloa and lived at Mountain Park, Ancaster. Another brother, James, became a successful Rice Miller in Charleston, SC and another, Alexander, a merchant in New Orleans.
His obituary in the Free Church Magazine of 1851 includes the following;
| “ | His labours, first at Halifax and latterly at Hamilton, are identified with the history of the Colonial Free Church, and many will bless the memory of this good man, called away in the midst of his days and usefulness. | ” |
Of his children, his third son James Robb KC(1837-1917) became Judge for Norfolk County, his fourth son George Carmichael Robb (1839-1918) was an engineer in Dundee and Toronto. George and his wife Jane McNab had several children, including a son who became a Presbyterian Minister, and two daughters who married Presbyterian Ministers. His youngest daughter Agnes married Alexander Bruce KC, partner in Bruce, Bruce & Counsel, a legal firm in Hamilton, and their son Ralph Robb Bruce (1863-1938) later became a partner.