Lionel Keir Robinson CBE MC grave Southgate Cemetery

Lionel Keir Robinson (1897 - 9 November 1983) was an

antiquarian bookseller Bookselling is the commercial trading of books which is the retail and distribution end of the publishing process. People who engage in bookselling are called booksellers, bookdealers, bookpeople, bookmen, or bookwomen. The founding of librari ...

and president of the

Antiquarian Booksellers Association The Antiquarian Booksellers' Association (ABA) is the senior trade body in the British Isles for dealers in antiquarian and rare books, manuscripts and allied materials. The ABA organises a number of book fairs every year including its flagship f ...

. He was awarded the Military Cross during the First World War for conspicuous gallantry in continuing to perform his duties despite being under fire and having been gassed by the enemy.

Military service

He served in the

Royal Garrison Artillery The Royal Garrison Artillery (RGA) was formed in 1899 as a distinct arm of the British Army's Royal Regiment of Artillery serving alongside the other two arms of the Regiment, the Royal Field Artillery (RFA) and the Royal Horse Artillery (RHA) ...

and the 2nd Australian Siege Artillery Battery during the First World War as a Second Lieutenant and in 1918 was awarded the

Military Cross The Military Cross (MC) is the third-level (second-level pre-1993) military decoration awarded to officers and (since 1993) other ranks of the British Armed Forces, and formerly awarded to officers of other Commonwealth countries. The MC i ...

for "conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty". His citation read:

This officer was in a forward observation post for twenty-four hours preceding an enemy attack. Notwithstanding a heavy shell and machine-gun barrage and being badly "gassed" he remained at his post, transmitting valuable information to his battery that enabled them to direct their fire on the enemy in the most effective manner."''The London Gazette''
Supplement, 13 September 1918, p. 10902.

He was captured with some Australian soldiers in Belgium and after the war wrote to them in Australia to inquire about their well-being and to say that he had recommended them for a medal.

Later life

After the war, Robinson became an antiquarian bookseller, becoming president of the Antiquarian Booksellers Association from 1938 to 1942. In 1946, he and his brother Philip, raised £20,000 of their own capital and £80,000 from an investment bank to purchase the remainder of the Phillipps Collection of books and manuscripts from Alan Fenwick, inherited from his father Thomas Fenwick and passed down from Sir Thomas Phillipps. (See A. L. Munby, Phillipps Studies Book V and below). From 1960 he lived at Redwalls on the south side of Beech Hill near Beech Hill Park in

Hadley Wood Hadley Wood is an affluent suburb in the north of Greater London, close to the border with Hertfordshire. It appears to be a stand-alone village surrounded by Green Belt land, however, under the Local Government Act 1972 it is part of the ...

, Hertfordshire, when he executed a deed relating to the "residue" of the manuscripts of the nineteenth century

bibliomaniac Bibliomania can be a symptom of obsessive–compulsive disorder which involves the collecting or even hoarding of books to the point where social relations or health are damaged. Bibliomania is not to be confused with bibliophilia, which is the ...

Sir Thomas Phillipps Sir Thomas Phillipps, 1st Baronet (2 July 1792 – 6 February 1872), was an English antiquary and book collector who amassed the largest collection of manuscript material in the 19th century. He was an illegitimate son of a textile manufacture ...

. Between 1946 and 1957 when the Robinson Brothers retired, they owned an antiquarian bookshop in Pall Mall. After retirement, they spent time examining and sorting many of the remaining books from the collection of Thomas Phillipps and sending them to auction. In 1976 he was made a commander of the

Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established ...

for charity work.
The London Gazette
', Supplement, 1 January 1976, p. 9. He married Kathleen (Kay) Sproat. Robinson died on 9 November 1983 and is buried at

Southgate Cemetery Southgate Cemetery, sometimes known as Edmonton and Southgate Cemetery or Old Southgate Cemetery, is a cemetery in Waterfall Road, Southgate, London, run by the London Borough of Enfield. The cemetery was established by the Southgate Burial B ...

with his wife.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Robinson, Lionel 1897 births 1983 deaths Recipients of the Military Cross Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Royal Garrison Artillery officers British Army personnel of World War I Antiquarian booksellers Hadley Wood Burials in England Presidents of the Antiquarian Booksellers' Association