Crescens James Robinson (21 May 1864 – 8 June 1941) played

first-class cricket First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is one of three or more days' scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officiall ...

for

Somerset ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lord_ ...

in 31 matches from 1885 to 1896. He was born in

Gloucester Gloucester ( ) is a cathedral city and the county town of Gloucestershire in the South West of England. Gloucester lies on the River Severn, between the Cotswolds to the east and the Forest of Dean to the west, east of Monmouth and east ...

and died at

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

Family and background

Robinson was a member of an entrepreneurial family who had interests in paper-making and printing in

Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...

and London and in a wide range of goods in

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...

. The family company of E. S. & A. Robinson owned a large printing and paper-bag manufacturing site at Bedminster in Bristol. Crescens Robinson's unusual name was a family name: his uncle Crescens had a firm called "Crescens Robinson & Co" in

Islington Islington () is a district in the north of Greater London, England, and part of the London Borough of Islington. It is a mainly residential district of Inner London, extending from Islington's High Street to Highbury Fields, encompassing the ar ...

, London, which acted as an agent for his uncle Philip who was the founder of

Robinson & Co Robinsons Department Stores Online Pte Ltd (formerly known as Robinsons & Co. Pte Ltd) is an online retail company based in Singapore. The company owned Robinsons department stores in Singapore and Malaysia, which closed in 2021. It also opera ...

in Singapore and later became a lithographic printing company which specialised in fine printing of posters, with London Transport among its customers. The extensive Robinson family had estates at

Flax Bourton Flax Bourton is a village and civil parishes in England, civil parish in Somerset, England. The parish, with a population of 715, is situated within the unitary authorities of England, unitary authority of North Somerset, on the edge of Tickenham ...

and

Backwell Backwell is a village and civil parish in the unitary authority of North Somerset and in 2011 had a population of 4,589. The village lies about southwest of Bristol, south of the A370 to Weston-super-Mare. The parish includes the hamlets of Ba ...

, near

Nailsea Nailsea is a town in Somerset, England, southwest of Bristol, and northeast of Weston-super-Mare. The nearest village is Backwell, which lies south of Nailsea on the opposite side of the Bristol to Exeter railway line. Nailsea had a populatio ...

, south of Bristol, and in 1879 Crescens was part of a team of "Eleven Robinsons" that played a match against the Backwell Cricket Club at the Flax Bourton ground. This event was repeated in various forms until 1964 and included a match against an all Grace team in 1891. The Eleven Robinsons consisted of Crescens and five of his brothers, augmented by five cousins, all descended from Edward Robinson and directly related to

Elisha Smith Robinson Elisha Smith Robinson (1817–1885) was an English businessman and politician. Early life and business career Robinson was born in 1817 in Overbury, on the Worcestershire/Gloucestershire borders where his father Edward Robinson, a paper maker, ...

, Crescens' most prosperous uncle. Apart from Crescens, two others of the Robinson Eleven graduated to first-class cricket: cousin Arthur played three matches for

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn and the entire Forest of Dean. The county town is the city of Gl ...

, while Crescens' brother

Theodore Theodore may refer to: Places * Theodore, Alabama, United States * Theodore, Australian Capital Territory * Theodore, Queensland, a town in the Shire of Banana, Australia * Theodore, Saskatchewan, Canada * Theodore Reservoir, a lake in Sask ...

also played a few times for Somerset.

Cricket career

Crescens Robinson made his first-class debut for Somerset in a crushing defeat by

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...

towards the end of the 1885 season, after which Somerset lost its first-class cricket status for five seasons. Robinson, a right-handed middle- or lower-order batsman, played during the years of second-class cricket from 1886 to the triumphs of 1890, when a winning streak in matches against leading teams opened up a new set of fixtures for Somerset of sufficient depth to enable the county to qualify for first-class status again. Robinson was then a regular member of the teams in both 1891 and 1892, though he was scarcely prolific. Played only as a batsman, he made only one score of more than 50 in the two seasons, an innings of 55 made batting at No 9 in the match against

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

in July 1891. Robinson did not play first-class cricket after the 1892 season until he reappeared in two Somerset matches in 1896, but he made little impact in those, and they were the final games of his cricket career.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Robinson, Crescens 1864 births 1941 deaths English cricketers Somerset cricketers Cricketers from Gloucester