Brooke Robinson (1836–1911) was a British Conservative Party politician, who was MP for Dudley and held a number of public posts including that of County Coroner for Dudley. He also was an art collector and benefactor whose legacy was the Town Hall and a museum in the town of Dudley.

Biography

Brooke Robinson, son of William Robinson and Harriet (née Johnson), was born at

Dudley Dudley is a large market town and administrative centre in the county of West Midlands, England, southeast of Wolverhampton and northwest of Birmingham. Historically an exclave of Worcestershire, the town is the administrative centre of the ...

on 11 September 1836. His unusual first name, Brooke, was the

maiden name When a person (traditionally the wife in many cultures) assumes the family name of their spouse, in some countries that name replaces the person's previous surname, which in the case of the wife is called the maiden name ("birth name" is also use ...

of one of his great-great-grandmothers and had subsequently been adopted as a given name by some of her descendants. Robinson was educated at

Rugby Rugby may refer to: Sport * Rugby football in many forms: ** Rugby league: 13 players per side *** Masters Rugby League *** Mod league *** Rugby league nines *** Rugby league sevens *** Touch (sport) *** Wheelchair rugby league ** Rugby union: 1 ...

. He was admitted as an Attorney at Law and Solicitor in Chancery in 1857. He practiced in Dudley until 1874. He was elected unopposed as

county coroner A coroner is a government or judicial official who is empowered to conduct or order an inquest into the manner or cause of death, and to investigate or confirm the identity of an unknown person who has been found dead within the coroner's juri ...

for the Dudley district on 9 August 1860 at a special County Court held at the New Town Hall, Dudley. His father, William Robinson, had been the previous holder of the post. Robinson married Eugenia Collis, the daughter of George Richard Collis of

Stourton Castle Stourton is a hamlet in Staffordshire, England a few miles to the northwest of Stourbridge. There is a fair amount of dispute over the pronunciation, being pronounced 'stower-ton', 'stir-ton' or 'store-ton' by different people from the area. T ...

, on 10 March 1870. He was a lieutenant in the

Worcestershire Yeomanry The Queen's Own Worcestershire Hussars was a Yeomanry regiment of the British Army. First raised in 1794, it participated in the Second Boer War and World War I as horsed cavalry before being converted to an anti-tank regiment of the Royal Artil ...

between 1871 and 1877. Brooke Robinson first stood for Parliament at Dudley in 1885 when he was defeated by the long-established sitting MP, Henry Brinsley Sheridan. Subsequently, however, he was elected four times as MP for Dudley: in 1886, 1892, 1895 and 1900. He represented the

Conservative Party The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right. Political parties called The Conservative P ...

during this time. Robinson was the first local man to be elected as MP for Dudley since Thomas Hawkes resigned the position in 1844. Local Tories emphasized this with the slogan 'A Dudley man for Dudley'. Robinson was a supporter of an 8 hour working day, free education, reform of the Poor Law and industrial arbitration. He made the decision not to stand for the 1906 election on health grounds. Brooke Robinson died on 20 October 1911 at his home, Barford House, which is near

Warwick Warwick ( ) is a market town, civil parish and the county town of Warwickshire in the Warwick District in England, adjacent to the River Avon, Warwickshire, River Avon. It is south of Coventry, and south-east of Birmingham. It is adjoined wit ...

, and was buried at St Thomas’s Church, Dudley.

Legacy

Brooke Robinson left a sum of money as well as his collection of art, furniture, ceramics, and other items for the benefit of the town of Dudley. The money was eventually used to construct the Town Hall, a Coroner's Court and a museum. The museum, known as the Brooke Robinson Museum, opened on 18 May 1931. In 1979, the museum trustees agreed to the collection being moved to the Dudley Museum and Art Gallery.

Parliamentary election results

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Robinson, Brooke 1836 births 1911 deaths Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies English philanthropists People from Dudley 19th-century British philanthropists