Thomas Ellis Robins, 1st Baron Robins KBE, DSO (31 October 1884 – 21 July 1962), known as Sir Ellis Robins between 1946 and 1958, was an American-born British businessman and public servant, mainly based in Rhodesia.

Background and education

Robins was born in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

, the son of Major Robert Patterson Robins, a medical doctor, and Mary Routh Ellis, daughter of Thomas de la Roche Ellis, of Elliston,

Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...

. He was educated at the Bight School,

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...

, the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...

,thepeerage.com Thomas Ellis Robins, 1st and last Baron Robins
/ref> where he was a member of the

Philomathean Society The Philomathean Society of the University of Pennsylvania is a collegiate literary society, the oldest student group at the university, and a claimant to the title of the oldest continuously-existing literary society in the United States.This cl ...

, and Christ Church, Oxford, where he was the first Rhodes scholar.

Public life

After a year at Oxford, Robins went to

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

where he joined the British South Africa Company, the company established by Cecil Rhodes, and was entrusted with several important posts in Rhodesia.Denslow, William R., and Truman, Harry S. ''10,000 Famous Freeasons from K-Z. Part Two,'' pages 50-51.
/ref> He became a British citizen in 1912. He fought with the

City of London Yeomanry The City of London Yeomanry (Rough Riders) was a yeomanry regiment of the British Territorial Army, formed in 1901 from veterans of the Second Boer War. In World War I it served dismounted in the Gallipoli Campaign but reverted to the mount ...

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Medit ...

, Gallipoli and Palestine during the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, was twice mentioned in despatches and awarded the

Distinguished Service Order The Distinguished Service Order (DSO) is a military decoration of the United Kingdom, as well as formerly of other parts of the Commonwealth, awarded for meritorious or distinguished service by officers of the armed forces during wartime, ty ...

. In 1928 he became general manager of the British South Africa Company, which he remained until 1933, and was then a resident director of the company in

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

until 1957. He was also a director of the Rhodesia Railway Trust, the Rhodesia Land Bank and the Anglo-American Corporation of South Africa. He commanded the 1st Regiment of the

Rhodesia Regiment The Rhodesia Regiment (RR) was one of the oldest and largest regiments in the Rhodesian Army. It served on the side of the United Kingdom in the Second Boer War and the World War I, First and World War II, Second World Wars and served the Republi ...

between 1940 and 1943 and was knighted in 1946, in recognition of his "public services in Rhodesia". He hosted the visit of Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother to Rhodesia in 1953, the centenary of Cecil Rhodes's birth. He was made a Knight 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 o ...

(KBE) the following year and was raised to the peerage as Baron Robins, of Rhodesia and

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...

in the

County of London The County of London was a county of England from 1889 to 1965, corresponding to the area known today as Inner London. It was created as part of the general introduction of elected county government in England, by way of the Local Government A ...

, in 1958. Robins was also a freemason.

Personal life

Lord Robins married Mary St Quintin Wroughton, daughter of

Philip Wroughton Philip Wroughton (6 April 1846 – 7 June 1910) was an English landowner and Conservative politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1876 to 1895. Wroughton was born at Ibstone, Buckinghamshire, the son of Philip Wroughton (1805-1862) of Wo ...

, of Woolley Park,

Wantage Wantage () is a historic market town and civil parish in Oxfordshire, England. Although within the boundaries of the historic county of Berkshire, it has been administered as part of the Vale of White Horse district of Oxfordshire since 1974. T ...

, Berkshire, in 1912. He died in July 1962, aged 77, when the barony became extinct. The

Ellis Robins School, Harare , established = 1953 , type = Public, Boarding , affiliation = , district = , grades = Form 1 to 6 , president = , principal = , head_of_school = Mr C. Mazonde , faculty = , staff = ...

and Ellis House at Peterhouse Boys' School are named after him.

Arms

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Robins, Ellis 1884 births 1962 deaths University of Pennsylvania alumni Alumni of Christ Church, Oxford American Rhodes Scholars Companions of the Distinguished Service Order Knights Commander of the Order of the British Empire City of London Yeomanry (Rough Riders) officers Hereditary barons created by Elizabeth II