Roy Lister Robinson, Baron Robinson, (8 March 1883 – 5 September 1952), known as Sir Roy Robinson between 1931 and 1947, was a British

forester A forester is a person who practises forestry, the science, art, and profession of managing forests. Foresters engage in a broad range of activities including ecological restoration and management of protected areas. Foresters manage forests to ...

and public servant.

Background and education

Robinson was born in

Macclesfield, South Australia Macclesfield is a small town on the upper reaches of the River Angas in the Adelaide Hills region of South Australia. In the , Macclesfield had a population of 832 while the 2016 Census showed an increase to 958. Macclesfield is in the Dist ...

, the son of William Robinson.Roy Robinson
CricketArchive. Retrieved 11 March 2023. He won an exhibition to the Collegiate School of St Peter, Adelaide, in 1896. Whilst at school he played

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

for the school team. He entered the School of Mines and Industries in 1900 to study mining engineering, and combined study for its fellowship diploma (passing eleven subjects with distinction in one year) with his course at the

University of Adelaide The University of Adelaide (informally Adelaide University) is a public research university located in Adelaide, South Australia. Established in 1874, it is the third-oldest university in Australia. The university's main campus is located on N ...

(BSc, 1905). He was awarded a

Rhodes scholarship The Rhodes Scholarship is an international postgraduate award for students to study at the University of Oxford, in the United Kingdom. Established in 1902, it is the oldest graduate scholarship in the world. It is considered among the world' ...

in 1905 (the second from South Australia) to

Magdalen College, Oxford Magdalen College (, ) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford. It was founded in 1458 by William of Waynflete. Today, it is the fourth wealthiest college, with a financial endowment of £332.1 million as of 2019 and one of the s ...

, where he graduated with a B.A. in 1908. He obtained first-class honours (1907) in natural science (geology) and the diploma (1908), with distinction, in forestry (under Sir William Schlich), also representing the university in cricket, athletics and

lacrosse Lacrosse is a team sport played with a lacrosse stick and a lacrosse ball. It is the oldest organized sport in North America, with its origins with the indigenous people of North America as early as the 12th century. The game was extensively ...

. Robinson, The First Baron (Roy Lister Robinson), Obituaries in 1952, ''

Wisden Cricketer's Almanack ''Wisden Cricketers' Almanack'', or simply ''Wisden'', colloquially the Bible of Cricket, is a cricket reference book published annually in the United Kingdom. The description "bible of cricket" was first used in the 1930s by Alec Waugh in a ...

'', 1953.
Available online
at

CricInfo ESPN cricinfo (formerly known as Cricinfo or CricInfo) is a sports news website exclusively for the game of cricket. The site features news, articles, live coverage of cricket matches (including liveblogs and scorecards), and ''StatsGuru'', a d ...

. Retrieved 11 March 2023.) He played in 12

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 ...

matches for the University side during 1908 and 1909, winning a

Blue Blue is one of the three primary colours in the RYB colour model (traditional colour theory), as well as in the RGB (additive) colour model. It lies between violet and cyan on the spectrum of visible light. The eye perceives blue when obs ...

in both years as well as playing against the touring Australians in 1909. In 1910 he played for the Gentlemen of England amateur side against the university, his final first-class match. Primarily a bowler, he took 44 first-class wickets.Roy Robinson

. Retrieved 11 March 2023.

Career

In 1909 Robinson was appointed assistant inspector for forestry at the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries, London, and laid the foundations of what was to become an unrivalled knowledge of the forests and forestry of Britain. He was largely responsible for the report which led to the establishment of the

Forestry Commission The Forestry Commission is a non-ministerial government department responsible for the management of publicly owned forests and the regulation of both public and private forestry in England. The Forestry Commission was previously also respon ...

in 1919 and his appointment as its technical commissioner. He became vice-chairman of the commission in 1929, and chairman in 1932, holding that office until he died. He was appointed an

Officer 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 o ...

(OBE) in 1918,

knighted A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the Christian denomination, church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood ...

in 1931 and raised to the peerage as Baron Robinson, of

Kielder Forest Kielder Forest is a large forestry plantation in Northumberland, England, surrounding Kielder village and the Kielder Water reservoir. It is the largest man-made woodland in England with three-quarters of its covered by forest. The majority ...

in the

County of Northumberland Northumberland () is a ceremonial counties of England, county in Northern England, one of two counties in England which border with Scotland. Notable landmarks in the county include Alnwick Castle, Bamburgh Castle, Hadrian's Wall and Hexham Ab ...

and of

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

in the

Commonwealth of Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...

, in 1947. Robinson was one of the founders of the Society of Foresters of Great Britain and first president and first recipient of its medal (1947) for eminent services to British forestry. He was an honorary member (1940) of the Society of American Foresters and the Institute of Foresters of Australia; corresponding member (1947) of the Académie d'Agriculture de France; and an honorary LL.D. of the

University of Aberdeen The University of Aberdeen ( sco, University o' 'Aiberdeen; abbreviated as ''Aberd.'' in List of post-nominal letters (United Kingdom), post-nominals; gd, Oilthigh Obar Dheathain) is a public university, public research university in Aberdeen, Sc ...

Family

Lord Robinson married Charlotte Marion, daughter of Henry Cust Bradshaw, on 26 November 1910 at St James' Church, Marylebone, London. They had one son, Michael Lister Robinson, who was killed on active service in 1942, and two daughters.

Death

Lord Robinson died of pneumonia while attending the British Commonwealth Forestry Conference in

Ottawa Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core ...

on 5 September 1952, aged 69. As his only son had predeceased him, the barony died with him.

References

External links

Roy Robinson bio
Australian Dictionary of Biography, ANU.edu.au
1950 photo of Roy Robinson
Forestry-memories.org.uk
Leaders in their fields
Adelaide.edu.au {{DEFAULTSORT:Robinson, Roy 1883 births 1952 deaths Australian Rhodes Scholars University of Adelaide alumni Alumni of Magdalen College, Oxford British foresters Australian Knights Bachelor Australian life peers Australian Officers of the Order of the British Empire People educated at St Peter's College, Adelaide English cricketers Oxford University cricketers Gentlemen of England cricketers Knights Bachelor Australian emigrants to England Barons created by George VI