Nicholas Kenneth Robinson (born 9 February 1946) is an Irish

author An author is the writer of a book, article, play, mostly written work. A broader definition of the word "author" states: "''An author is "the person who originated or gave existence to anything" and whose authorship determines responsibility f ...

historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the st ...

, solicitor and cartoonist who is the husband of the 7th

President of Ireland The president of Ireland ( ga, Uachtarán na hÉireann) is the head of state of Ireland and the supreme commander of the Irish Defence Forces. The president holds office for seven years, and can be elected for a maximum of two terms.Constitu ...

and former

United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, commonly known as the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) or the United Nations Human Rights Office, is a department of the Secretariat of the United Nati ...

Mary Robinson Mary Therese Winifred Robinson ( ga, Máire Mhic Róibín; ; born 21 May 1944) is an Irish politician who was the 7th president of Ireland, serving from December 1990 to September 1997, the first woman to hold this office. Prior to her electi ...

Background

Robinson was born in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the capital and most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population of 907,976 within the city proper, 1,558,755 in the urban ar ...

, Netherlands, in 1946, to a wealthy middle-class Anglican family. He was born to Howard and Lucy Robinson, the third in a family of four boys. His father was an accountant who founded the City of Dublin Banker and was a prominent freemason of the Grand Lodge of Ireland. The Robinson family had been coopers associated with the brewing business of the

Guinness family The Guinness family is an extensive Irish family known for its accomplishments in brewing, banking, politics, and religious ministry. The brewing branch is particularly well known among the general public for producing the dry stout Guinnes ...

. Nicholas's grandfather was a coal importer. While studying for a law degree at

Trinity College Dublin , name_Latin = Collegium Sanctae et Individuae Trinitatis Reginae Elizabethae juxta Dublin , motto = ''Perpetuis futuris temporibus duraturam'' (Latin) , motto_lang = la , motto_English = It will last i ...

, he began a relationship with his future wife

(''née'' Bourke), who would later become the

. With his wife Mary, he has one daughter and two sons, and six grandchildren.

Career

Robinson has helped establish numerous bodies, among them the

Irish Architectural Archive The Irish Architectural Archive was established in 1976 by Dr Edward McParland and Nicholas Robinson as the National Trust Archive. Its objective is to collect and preserve material of every kind relating to the architecture of Ireland, and ma ...

(with

Edward McParland Edward Joseph McParland is an Irish architectural historian and author. He was elected as Pro-Chancellor of University of Dublin, Trinity College in 2013, and continues to give lectures after his retirement in 2008. McParland is the co-founder ...

), the Birr Scientific and Heritage Foundation, the

Irish Landmark Trust The Irish Landmark Trust is an architectural conservation and educational organisation founded in Ireland in 1992. Similar to the British Landmark Trust (founded in 1965), it is a charitable organization, registered charity which renovates buildin ...

(of which he is a Trustee, ''ex officio'' President & Patron), and (with his wife Mary) the Irish Centre for European Law at Trinity College.Our Board – Mary Robinson – Realizing Rights: The Ethical Globalization Initiative
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Works

His books include: * ''Vanishing Country Houses of Ireland'' with the

Knight of Glin The Knight of Glin (; dormant 14 September 2011), also known as the Black Knight or Knight of the Valley, was a hereditary title held by the FitzGerald and FitzMaurice families of County Limerick, Ireland, since the early 14th century. The fam ...

and David Griffin * ''Edmund Burke: a Life in Caricature'' (Yale, 1996).

References

Sources

* Olivia O'Leary & Helen Burke, ''Mary Robinson: The Authorised Biography'', Lir/Hodder & Stoughton, 1998 () {{DEFAULTSORT:Robinson, Nicholas Living people Alumni of Trinity College Dublin Irish Anglicans 20th-century Irish historians Irish solicitors Irish writers Spouses of presidents of Ireland 1946 births