William Stevens Robinson (7 December 1818,

Concord, Massachusetts Concord () is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, in the United States. At the 2020 census, the town population was 18,491. The United States Census Bureau considers Concord part of Greater Boston. The town center is near where the conflu ...

11 March 1876,

Malden, Massachusetts Malden is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. At the time of the 2020 U.S. Census, the population was 66,263 people. History Malden, a hilly woodland area north of the Mystic River, was settled by Puritans in 1640 on la ...

) was a

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journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...

Biography

He was educated in the public schools of Concord, learned the printer's trade, and joined his brother working on the ''Norfolk Advertiser'' in Dedham in 1837. At the age of 20, he became the editor and publisher of the ''Yeoman's Gazette'' (later ''The Republican'') in Concord, and was afterward assistant editor of the Lowell ''Courier''. He was an opponent of slavery while he adhered to the Whig Party, and when the Free Soil Party was organized he left the ''Courier'', and in July 1848, took charge of the

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

''Daily Whig''. His vigorous and sarcastic editorials increased the circulation of the paper, the name of which was changed to the ''Republican''; yet, after the presidential campaign had ended,

Henry Wilson Henry Wilson (born Jeremiah Jones Colbath; February 16, 1812 – November 22, 1875) was an American politician who was the 18th vice president of the United States from 1873 until his death in 1875 and a senator from Massachusetts from 1855 to ...

, the proprietor, decided to assume the editorial management and moderate the tone of his journal. Robinson next edited the Lowell ''American'', a Free-soil Democratic paper, until it died for lack of support in 1853. He was a member of the legislature in 1852 and 1853. In 1856 he began to write letters for ''The Republican'' over the signature Warrington, in which questions of the day and public men were discussed with such boldness and wit that the correspondence attracted wide popular attention. This connection was continued until his death. From 1862 until 1873 he was clerk of the

Massachusetts House of Representatives The Massachusetts House of Representatives is the lower house of the Massachusetts General Court, the state legislature of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. It is composed of 160 members elected from 14 counties each divided into single-member ...

. "Warrington," by his articles in the newspapers and magazines, was instrumental in defeating

Benjamin F. Butler Benjamin Franklin Butler (November 5, 1818 – January 11, 1893) was an American major general of the Union Army, politician, lawyer, and businessman from Massachusetts. Born in New Hampshire and raised in Lowell, Massachusetts, Butler is best ...

's effort to obtain the Republican nomination for governor in 1871, and in 1873 he was Butler's strongest opponent. He also contributed letters to the '' New-York Tribune'' over the name Gilbert, but declined an opportunity to join its editorial staff. Besides pamphlets and addresses, he published a ''Manual of Parliamentary Law'' (Boston, 1875). His widow,

Harriet Hanson Robinson Harriet Jane Hanson Robinson (February 8, 1825 – December 22, 1911) worked as a bobbin doffer in a Massachusetts cotton mill and was involved in a turnout, became a poet and author, and played an important role in the women's suffrage movement i ...

, published personal reminiscences from his writings entitled ''Warrington Pen-Portraits'', with a memoir (Boston, 1877). As a worker in the Lowell textile mills, she contributed poems to the Lowell ''Courier'' while Mr. Robinson was its editor, and from this introduction sprang a friendship that resulted in their marriage on 30 November 1848. They both worked for

women's suffrage Women's suffrage is the right of women to vote in elections. Beginning in the start of the 18th century, some people sought to change voting laws to allow women to vote. Liberal political parties would go on to grant women the right to vot ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...

, and she assisted him in his editorial work. Their daughter,

Hattie Hattie or Hatty may refer to: People *Hattie Alexander (1901–1968), American pediatrician and microbiologist *Hattie Helen Gould Beck, birth name of burlesque dancer Sally Rand (1904–1979) *Hattie Bessent (1908–2015), American psychiatric ...

, served as assistant clerk of the

in 1872, being the first woman to hold such a position. Another daughter Elizabeth was a pioneer in introducing kindergarten to the state of

Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its cap ...

Notes

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Robinson, William Stevens 1818 births 1876 deaths People from Concord, Massachusetts Massachusetts Whigs 19th-century American politicians Massachusetts Free Soilers American suffragists 19th-century American journalists American male journalists 19th-century American male writers