![Memorial to Joseph Armitage Robinson in Wells Cathedral](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/27/Memorial_to_Joseph_Armitage_Robinson_in_Wells_Cathedral.jpg)
Joseph Armitage Robinson (9 January 1858 – 7 May 1933) was a priest in the
Church of England
The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britain ...
and scholar. He was successively
Dean of Westminster (1902–1911) and of
Wells
Wells most commonly refers to:
* Wells, Somerset, a cathedral city in Somerset, England
* Well, an excavation or structure created in the ground
* Wells (name)
Wells may also refer to:
Places Canada
*Wells, British Columbia
England
* Wells ...
(1911–1933).
Biography
Robinson was born the son of a poor vicar in
Keynsham
Keynsham ( ) is a town and civil parish located between Bristol and Bath in Somerset, England. It has a population of 16,000.
It was listed in the Domesday Book as ''Cainesham'' (as it is pronounced), which is believed to mean the home of Sai ...
, and was educated at
Liverpool College and
Christ's College, Cambridge
Christ's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college includes the Master, the Fellows of the College, and about 450 undergraduate and 170 graduate students. The college was founded by William Byngham in 1437 as ...
, of which he became a fellow. He was ordained deacon in the Diocese of Ely in 1881, and priest in 1882, when he was Fellow. After a BA degree in 1881, he received his
MA degree in 1884, was made
Bachelor of Divinity
In Western universities, a Bachelor of Divinity or Baccalaureate in Divinity (BD or BDiv; la, Baccalaureus Divinitatis) is a postgraduate academic degree awarded for a course taken in the study of divinity or related disciplines, such as theology ...
(BD) in 1891, and
Doctor of Divinity
A Doctor of Divinity (D.D. or DDiv; la, Doctor Divinitatis) is the holder of an advanced academic degree in divinity.
In the United Kingdom, it is considered an advanced doctoral degree. At the University of Oxford, doctors of divinity are ran ...
(DD) in 1896.
His first ecclesiastical posting was a domestic chaplain to
Joseph Lightfoot
Joseph Barber Lightfoot (13 April 1828 – 21 December 1889), known as J. B. Lightfoot, was an English theologian and Bishop of Durham.
Life
Lightfoot was born in Liverpool, where his father John Jackson Lightfoot was an accountant. His mo ...
,
Bishop of Durham
The Bishop of Durham is the Anglican bishop responsible for the Diocese of Durham in the Province of York. The diocese is one of the oldest in England and its bishop is a member of the House of Lords. Paul Butler has been the Bishop of Durham ...
from 1883 to 1884, following which he was
curate
A curate () is a person who is invested with the ''care'' or ''cure'' (''cura'') ''of souls'' of a parish. In this sense, "curate" means a parish priest; but in English-speaking countries the term ''curate'' is commonly used to describe clergy w ...
of Great St. Mary,
Cambridge
Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...
until 1886, then a Cambridge Whitehall preacher from 1886 to 1888. That year he was appointed examining chaplain to the
Bishop of Bath and Wells and vicar of
All Saints' Church, Cambridge
All Saints' is a church on Jesus Lane in central Cambridge, England, which was built by the architect George Frederick Bodley. The church was constructed in stages between 1863 and 1870 and is a notable example of English Gothic Revival style. ...
where he stayed from 1888 until 1892. He was also a
dean of Christ's College, Cambridge, from 1884 to 1890. In 1893 he was appointed
Norrisian professor of Divinity at
Cambridge University
, mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts.
Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge.
, established =
, other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...
, serving as such until 1899, during which he was also a
prebendary of
Wells Cathedral. He served as
rector of
St Margaret's, Westminster 1899–1900, and was appointed a
canon of Westminster
The Dean and Chapter of Westminster are the ecclesiastical governing body of Westminster Abbey, a collegiate church of the Church of England and royal peculiar in Westminster, Greater London. They consist of the dean and several canons meeting in ...
in 1899, serving until his appointment as dean.
In January 1902 he was appointed a
Chaplain-in-Ordinary to
King Edward VII
Edward VII (Albert Edward; 9 November 1841 – 6 May 1910) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and Emperor of India, from 22 January 1901 until his death in 1910.
The second child and eldest son of Queen Victoria a ...
. The
Dean of Westminster,
George Granville Bradley, was severely ill throughout most of 1902, but wanted to stay in the position until the
coronation
A coronation is the act of placement or bestowal of a coronation crown, crown upon a monarch's head. The term also generally refers not only to the physical crowning but to the whole ceremony wherein the act of crowning occurs, along with the ...
of the King in August. Bradley resigned the following month, and the King appointed Robinson Dean of Westminster in early October,
followed by a formal installation in
Westminster Abbey
Westminster Abbey, formally titled the Collegiate Church of Saint Peter at Westminster, is an historic, mainly Gothic church in the City of Westminster, London, England, just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. It is one of the United ...
on 28 October 1902. As Dean of Westminster, he was in November 1902 appointed Acting Chaplain to the
Queen's Westminsters, the largest
volunteer corps in London.
Robinson was
Lord High Almoner from 1906 to 1933.
He served at Westminster until he was appointed
Dean of Wells in 1911. It has been suggested that the move to Wells was arranged to avoid friction in the run-up to the coronation of
George V
George V (George Frederick Ernest Albert; 3 June 1865 – 20 January 1936) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 until Death and state funeral of George V, his death in 1936.
Born duri ...
.
As
Dean of Wells Robinson enjoyed close links with
Downside Abbey. He also critically explored the origins of the
Glastonbury legends to which the
Glastonbury Festival
Glastonbury Festival (formally Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts and known colloquially as Glasto) is a five-day festival of contemporary performing arts that takes place in Pilton, Somerset, England. In addition to contemp ...
had revived attention. A renowned scholar in
patristics
Patristics or patrology is the study of the early Christian writers who are designated Church Fathers. The names derive from the combined forms of Latin ''pater'' and Greek ''patḗr'' (father). The period is generally considered to run from ...
(he was particularly known for his work on the
Lausiac History
The ''Lausiac History'' ( grc-x-koine, Ἡ Λαυσαϊκή Ἱστορία, E Lavsaike Istoria) is a seminal work archiving the
Desert Fathers (early Christian monks who lived in the Egyptian
desert) written in 419-420 by Palladius of Galatia, at ...
and for having been the first person to translate into English the newly discovered work by
Irenaeus
Irenaeus (; grc-gre, Εἰρηναῖος ''Eirēnaios''; c. 130 – c. 202 AD) was a Greek bishop noted for his role in guiding and expanding Christian communities in the southern regions of present-day France and, more widely, for the dev ...
The Demonstration of the Apostolic Preaching), Armitage Robinson was a participant in the bilateral Anglican-Roman Catholic
Malines Conversations
The Malines Conversations were a series of five informal ecumenical conversations held from 1921 to 1927 which explored possibilities for the corporate reunion between the Roman Catholic Church and the Church of England, forming one stage of Anglic ...
.
He held honorary doctorates from
Göttingen
Göttingen (, , ; nds, Chöttingen) is a college town, university city in Lower Saxony, central Germany, the Capital (political), capital of Göttingen (district), the eponymous district. The River Leine runs through it. At the end of 2019, t ...
(Hon Ph.D., 1893) and
Halle Halle may refer to:
Places Germany
* Halle (Saale), also called Halle an der Saale, a city in Saxony-Anhalt
** Halle (region), a former administrative region in Saxony-Anhalt
** Bezirk Halle, a former administrative division of East Germany
** Hall ...
(Hon. D.Theol., 1894).
He was appointed
Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order
The Royal Victorian Order (french: Ordre royal de Victoria) is a dynastic order of knighthood established in 1896 by Queen Victoria. It recognises distinguished personal service to the British monarch, Canadian monarch, Australian monarch, or ...
(KCVO) in 1932, and died at
Upton Noble
Upton Noble is a village and civil parish on the River Frome. It is roughly north-east of Bruton, and from Frome town centre, in the Mendip district of Somerset, England.
There was a 17th-century village pub called ''The Lamb Inn (''now clo ...
, Somerset, on 7 May 1933 aged 75.
Works
* ''
Encyclopaedia Biblica'' (contributor), 1903.
* ''St. Paul's Epistle to the Ephesians, A revised text and translation with exposition and notes'' London 1903, Second Edition 1904.
* ''The Lausiac History of Palladius (Texts and Studies, vol. vi)'',Cambridge 1904.
* (with Cuthbert Butler) ''The Lausiac History of Palladius'', 1918.
* ''The Demonstration of the Apostolic Preaching (translated from the Armenian with introduction and notes)'', 1920
* ''The Saxon Bishops of Wells'', London, 1919.
* ''Somerset Historical Essays'', Oxford,1921.
* ''The Times of St. Dunstan'', Oxford, 1923.
* ''Two Glastonbury Legends: King Arthur and Joseph of Arimathaea'', Cambridge 1926. Reprinted in 2010 by
Kessinger Publishing
Kessinger Publishing LLC is an American print-on-demand
Print on demand (POD) is a printing technology and business process in which book copies (or other documents, packaging or materials) are not printed until the company receives an orde ...
, LLC.
References
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External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Robinson, Joseph Armitage
1858 births
1933 deaths
Deans of Westminster
Deans of Wells
Church of England deans
Canons of Westminster
People educated at Liverpool College
Alumni of Christ's College, Cambridge
Fellows of Christ's College, Cambridge
Knights Commander of the Royal Victorian Order
Arthurian scholars
Norrisian Professors of Divinity
Fellows of the British Academy