Robert Fleming

Robert Fleming (17 March 1845 – 31 July 1933) was a Scottish financier and philanthropist. He was the founder of merchant bank Robert Fleming & Co. Early life Robert Fleming was born in 1845 in Dundee. His father was a bookkeeper. Career Fleming got his start at the age of 13 working for local textile firm, Messrs Edward Baxter and Son. By 21, he was Edward Baxter's private clerk. In time, Fleming had learned enough about investment procedures from Baxter to oversee the firm's American holdings. Fleming launched the Scottish American Investment Trust in 1873, the first of the Scottish investment trusts. He went on to become an international financier in London, establishing the investment bank that bore his name for more than a century and out of which the Fleming Collection of Scottish art and the Fleming Collection Gallery was born.