George Birrell Robertson was born in Dundee, Scotland on 1 March 1859, and was articled to John W Buchanan in Edinburgh from 1874 to 1878. He them worked as an assistant to William Venn Gough (1841?-1918) in Bristol in 1879-80. In 1880 he emigrated to Australia. He settled in Sydney, New South Wales, where for from 1880 to 1892 he worked in the offices of George Allen Mansfield of Mansfield Brothers. In 1892 he commenced independent practice in Sydney in partnership with Theodore John Marks (1865-1941) as Robertson & Marks.
Robertson was a member of the Institute of Architects of New South Wales and was its Vice-President in from 1907 to 1919 and President in 1910. He was also elected a Licentiate of the Royal Institute of British Architects (LRIBA) in 1910. Ill health forced Robertson to retire from the practice the following year and he died at his home in Ashfield, Sydney, New South Wales on 2 February 1913.
Directory of British Architects 1834-1914. Compiled by Antonia Brodie, et al. Volume 2: L-Z. London; New York: British Architectural Library, Royal Institute of British Architects/Continuum, 2001
‘Obituary’. Building News 25 April 1913 p. 590
‘Obituary’. Sydney Morning Herald 3 February 1913 p. 10