ROBINSON, Sir Christopher (1766-1833), of Beddington, nr. Croydon, Surr. and 47 Bedford Square, Mdx.

Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1820-1832, ed. D.R. Fisher, 2009
Available from Cambridge University Press

Constituency

Dates

1818 - 12 June 1820

Family and Education

b. 18 July 1766,1 2nd s. of Christopher Robinson, DD (d. 1802), rect. of Albury, Oxon. and Wytham, Berks., and 1st w. Elizabeth Bailey of Haseley, Oxon. educ. Charterhouse 1776; Univ. Coll. Oxf. 1782, Magdalen 1783, BA 1786, MA 1789, DCL 1796. m. 11 Apr. 1799, Catherine, da. of Rev. Ralph Nicholson, rect. of Dudcote, Berks., 3s. 2da. kntd. 6 Feb. 1809. d. 21 Apr. 1833.

Offices Held

Adv. Doctors’ Commons 1796, treas. 1804-5; king’s adv. 1809-28; chan. diocese of London and judge of consistory ct. 1821-8; judge of ct. of admiralty 1828-d.; PC 5 Mar. 1828.

Commr. for building new churches 1825.

Biography

Robinson, the editor of six well-regarded volumes of reports of admiralty court cases (1799-1808), a specialist in prize law and king’s advocate since 1809, stood again for Callington on the increasingly precarious Clinton interest in 1820. He was returned after a contest, but was unseated on petition three months later, before he could make any mark in the new Parliament. It was subsequently alleged that these proceedings cost Robinson, who was never a wealthy man, £5,000 and that a promise of reimbursement by Lord Liverpool’s ministry was not kept. In 1821 he succeeded his early patron Lord Stowell as chancellor of the diocese of London, and seven years later he again stepped into Stowell’s shoes as judge of the admiralty court. He died from ‘an effusion of water on the brain’ in April 1833. An obituarist wrote of him:

A thorough English gentleman in mind and manners, endowed with a graceful presence and a pleasing address, though slightly shaded by reserve, he carried into private life the same mild and conciliating demeanour which characterized him on the bench.2

His second son William Robinson (1801/2-70) was also an advocate and reporter on admiralty cases.3

Ref Volumes: 1820-1832

Author: David R. Fisher

Notes

  • 1. Charterhouse Reg. 319.
  • 2. Law Mag. x. (1833), 485-8.
  • 3. Oxford DNB.