George Robinson was an English stockbroker and swindler in the 1720s and early 1730s. A banker in Lombard Street, he was appointed the circulating cashier of the

Charitable Corporation The Charitable Corporation was an institution in Britain intended to provide loans at low interest to the deserving poor, including by large-scale pawnbroking. It was established by charter in 1707. Its full title was "Charitable Corporation for t ...

. In 1727 he was one of the Corporation's 'Partnership of Five' (with Sir Alexander Grant, William Burroughs, William Squire and John Thomson) who began buying up shares. He and several officers of the Corporation obtained money from it by pawning false pledges, and proceeded to engage in a large scale speculation in the shares of that company and

York Buildings Company The York Buildings Company was an English company in the late 17th and early 18th centuries. Waterworks The full name of the company was The Governor and Company for raising the Thames Water at York Buildings. The undertaking was established in ...

, also borrowing against the shares purchased so that his partners failed to get what they bought. Robinson obtained a seat in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...

when he was elected MP for

Great Marlow Great Marlow is a civil parishes in England, civil parish within Wycombe district in the England, English county of Buckinghamshire, lying north of the town of Marlow, Buckinghamshire, Marlow and south of High Wycombe. The parish includes the Ha ...

in 1731, but was unable to sit before the affair began to come to light. He fled to France with Thomson, the warehouse-keeper, in October. They were both declared bankrupt. Robinson was back by 25 November and appeared before the General Court of the Company. By 18 December, he was in hiding again because the Company would not supersede the Commission of bankruptcy against him. He had "seen fit to absent himself from the kingdom", according to William Goostry, his attorney. Robinson was expelled from the House in absentia on 3 April 1732 for ''"indirect and fraudulent Practices in the Affairs of the Charitable Corporation, and for having never attended the Service of the House, although required to do so"''. His estate at Moor Place, Great Marlow (with a farmhouse, of land and of woods) was advertised for sale in January 1734. An earlier advertisement had also mentioned Temple Mills and a

lock Lock(s) may refer to: Common meanings *Lock and key, a mechanical device used to secure items of importance *Lock (water navigation), a device for boats to transit between different levels of water, as in a canal Arts and entertainment * ''Lock ...

. However, the bankruptcy proceedings continued for over 15 more years, a dividend being declared from his estate in 1748. As an Act of Parliament had been passed making him a

felon A felony is traditionally considered a crime of high seriousness, whereas a misdemeanor is regarded as less serious. The term "felony" originated from English common law (from the French medieval word "félonie") to describe an offense that resu ...

if he did not return by a certain date, it is likely that he remained abroad for the rest of his life. Thomson returned after the Act was amended to extend the time for him doing so.''An abstract of all the acts passed in the sixth session of the seventh parliament of Great Britain, and in the sixth year ... of George II'' (London, 1733), 6 Geo II, c.2.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Robinson, George 18th-century deaths Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for English constituencies English bankers Stockbrokers Year of birth unknown Expelled members of the Parliament of Great Britain

See also

References