Henry Crabb Robinson (13 May 1775
– 5 February 1867)
was an English lawyer, remembered as a
diarist
A diary is a written or audiovisual record with discrete entries arranged by date reporting on what has happened over the course of a day or other period. Diaries have traditionally been handwritten but are now also often digital. A person ...
. He took part in founding
London University
The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degr ...
.
Life
Robinson was born in
Bury St. Edmunds
Bury St Edmunds (), commonly referred to locally as Bury, is a historic market, cathedral town and civil parish in Suffolk, England.OS Explorer map 211: Bury St.Edmunds and Stowmarket Scale: 1:25 000. Publisher:Ordnance Survey – Southampton ...
,
Suffolk
Suffolk () is a ceremonial county of England in East Anglia. It borders Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south; the North Sea lies to the east. The county town is Ipswich; other important towns include Lowes ...
, third and youngest son of Henry Robinson (1736-1815) and Jemima (1736-1793), daughter of Denny Crabb, a landowner, maltster, and deacon of the congregational church at
Wattisfield,
Suffolk
Suffolk () is a ceremonial county of England in East Anglia. It borders Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south; the North Sea lies to the east. The county town is Ipswich; other important towns include Lowes ...
, and sister of
Habakkuk Crabb. After education at small private schools, he was articled in 1790 to an
attorney in
Colchester
Colchester ( ) is a city in Essex, in the East of England. It had a population of 122,000 in 2011. The demonym is Colcestrian.
Colchester occupies the site of Camulodunum, the first major city in Roman Britain and its first capital. Col ...
. At Colchester he heard
John Wesley
John Wesley (; 2 March 1791) was an English cleric, theologian, and evangelist who was a leader of a revival movement within the Church of England known as Methodism. The societies he founded became the dominant form of the independent M ...
preach one of his last sermons. In 1796, he entered the office of a solicitor in
Chancery Lane
Chancery Lane is a one-way street situated in the ward of Farringdon Without in the City of London. It has formed the western boundary of the City since 1994, having previously been divided between the City of Westminster and the London Boro ...
, London; but in 1798 a relative died, leaving Robinson a sum yielding a considerable yearly income. Proud of his independence and eager for travel, he went abroad in 1800. Between 1800 and 1805, he studied at various places in
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwee ...
, meeting
men of letters there, including
Goethe
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German poet, playwright, novelist, scientist, statesman, theatre director, and critic. His works include plays, poetry, literature, and aesthetic criticism, as well as treati ...
,
Schiller
Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller (, short: ; 10 November 17599 May 1805) was a German playwright, poet, and philosopher. During the last seventeen years of his life (1788–1805), Schiller developed a productive, if complicated, friend ...
,
Johann Gottfried Herder
Johann Gottfried von Herder ( , ; 25 August 174418 December 1803) was a German philosopher, theologian, poet, and literary critic. He is associated with the Enlightenment, '' Sturm und Drang'', and Weimar Classicism.
Biography
Born in Mohru ...
and
Christoph Martin Wieland
Christoph Martin Wieland (; 5 September 1733 – 20 January 1813) was a German poet and writer. He is best-remembered for having written the first '' Bildungsroman'' (''Geschichte des Agathon''), as well as the epic '' Oberon'', which formed the ...
. He then became correspondent for ''
The Times
''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its s ...
'' in
Altona in 1807. Later on he was sent to
Galicia, in
Spain
, image_flag = Bandera de España.svg
, image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg
, national_motto = '' Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond")
, national_anthem = (English: "Royal March")
, ...
, as a
war correspondent in the
Peninsular War
The Peninsular War (1807–1814) was the military conflict fought in the Iberian Peninsula by Spain, Portugal, and the United Kingdom against the invading and occupying forces of the First French Empire during the Napoleonic Wars. In Spai ...
.
On his return to
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, 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 dow ...
in 1809, Robinson decided to quit journalism and studied for
the Bar, to which he was called in 1813, and became leader of the Eastern
Circuit. Fifteen years later he retired, and by virtue of his conversation and qualities became a leader in society. He was one of the founders of the London University (now
University College London
, mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward
, established =
, type = Public research university
, endowment = £143 million (2020)
, budget = ...
) and travelled several times to Italy, as many of his contemporaries did. Among those whom he befriended in Rome in 1829 was the novelist
Sarah Burney.
Robinson died unmarried, aged 91. He was buried in a vault in
Highgate Cemetery
Highgate Cemetery is a place of burial in north London, England. There are approximately 170,000 people buried in around 53,000 graves across the West and East Cemeteries. Highgate Cemetery is notable both for some of the people buried there as ...
alongside his friend
Edwin Wilkins Field.
A bust of Crabb Robinson was made, and a portrait by
Edward Armitage
Edward Armitage (20 May 1817 – 24 May 1896) was an English Victorian-era painter whose work focused on historical, classical and biblical subjects.
Family background
Armitage was born in London to a family of wealthy Yorkshire industrialist ...
.
Works
Robinson's ''Diary, Reminiscences and Correspondence'' was published posthumously in 1869. It contains reminiscences of central figures of the English romantic movement: including
Coleridge
Samuel Taylor Coleridge (; 21 October 177225 July 1834) was an English poet, literary critic, philosopher, and theologian who, with his friend William Wordsworth, was a founder of the Romantic Movement in England and a member of the Lake Po ...
,
Charles Lamb
Charles Lamb (10 February 1775 – 27 December 1834) was an English essayist, poet, and antiquarian, best known for his '' Essays of Elia'' and for the children's book '' Tales from Shakespeare'', co-authored with his sister, Mary Lamb (1764– ...
,
William Blake
William Blake (28 November 1757 – 12 August 1827) was an English poet, painter, and printmaker. Largely unrecognised during his life, Blake is now considered a seminal figure in the history of the poetry and visual art of the Romantic Age. ...
,
William Wordsworth
William Wordsworth (7 April 177023 April 1850) was an English Romantic poet who, with Samuel Taylor Coleridge, helped to launch the Romantic Age in English literature with their joint publication '' Lyrical Ballads'' (1798).
Wordsworth's ...
, and of other writers such as
Sarah Burney. They are documents on the daily lives of London writers, artists, political figures and socialites. In his essay on Blake,
Swinburne
Algernon Charles Swinburne (5 April 1837 – 10 April 1909) was an English poet, playwright, novelist, and critic. He wrote several novels and collections of poetry such as '' Poems and Ballads'', and contributed to the famous Eleventh Edition ...
says, "Of all the records of these his latter years, the most valuable, perhaps, are those furnished by Mr. Crabb Robinson, whose cautious and vivid transcription of Blake's actual speech is worth more than much vague remark, or than any commentary now possible to give."
In 1829, Robinson was made a fellow of the
Society of Antiquaries (F.S.A.), and contributed a paper to ''
Archæologia'' entitled "The Etymology of the Mass".
His diaries were bequeathed to
Dr Williams's Library
Dr Williams's Library is a small English research library in Gordon Square, Bloomsbury, London. Historically, it has had a strong Unitarian focus. The library has also been known as University Hall.
History
The library was founded using the es ...
, because Robinson had been a member of the
Essex Street Chapel
Essex Street Chapel, also known as Essex Church, is a Unitarian place of worship in London. It was the first church in England set up with this doctrine, and was established when Dissenters still faced legal threat. As the birthplace of British ...
, the first avowedly
Unitarian congregation in England.
References
;Attribution
Further reading
*Diana Behler: "Henry Crabb Robinson as a Mediator of Lessing and Herder to England". In: ''Lessing Yearbook'' 7 (1975), pp. 105–126
*Diana Behler: "Henry Crabb Robinson: A British Acquaintance of Wieland and his Advocate in England". In: ''Christoph Martin Wieland. Nordamerikanische Forschungsbeitrage zur 250. Wiederkehr seines Geburtstages 1983''. Ed. Hansjörg Schelle. Tübingen, 1984, pp. 539–571
*Diana Behler: "Henry Crabb Robinson and Weimar". In: ''A Reassessment of Weimar Classicism'', ed. Gerhart Hoffmeister. Lewiston (NY), 1996, pp. 157–180
*Lorna J. Clark, ed.: ''The Letters of Sarah Harriet Burney''. Athens, Georgia, and London: University of Georgia Press, pp. 125–130, 133–143 and passim
*
Edith Morley. ''The Life and Times of Henry Crabb Robinson''. London: J. M. Dent & Sons, 1935
External links
*
Henry Crabb Robinson Project website of the
Queen Mary University of London
, mottoeng = With united powers
, established = 1785 – The London Hospital Medical College1843 – St Bartholomew's Hospital Medical College1882 – Westfield College1887 – East London College/Queen Mary College
, type = Public resear ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Robinson, Henry Crabb
1775 births
1867 deaths
Burials at Highgate Cemetery
English diarists
English barristers
Writers from Bury St Edmunds
Fellows of the Society of Antiquaries of London
English war correspondents
English Unitarians
19th-century diarists