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 forest management and 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. Fores ...

and public servant.

Background and education

Robinson was born in Macclesfield, South Australia, 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 games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

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 is a public university, public research university based in Adelaide, South Australia. Established in 1874, it is the third-oldest university in Australia. Its main campus in the Adelaide city centre includes many Sa ...

(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 Oxford, United Kingdom. The scholarship is open to people from all backgrounds around the world. Established in 1902, it is ...

in 1905 (the second from South Australia) to

Magdalen College, Oxford Magdalen College ( ) is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford. It was founded in 1458 by Bishop of Winchester William of Waynflete. It is one of the wealthiest Oxford colleges, as of 2022, and ...

, 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 contact 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 w ...

. 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" (or variations thereof) has been applied to ''Wi ...

'', 1953.
Available online
at

CricInfo ESPNcricinfo (formerly known as Cricinfo or CricInfo) is a Sports journalism, sports news website exclusively for the game of cricket. The site features news, articles, live coverage of cricket matches (including Liveblogging, liveblogs and sco ...

. 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 of three or more days scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officially adju ...

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

Blue Blue is one of the three primary colours in the RYB color model, RYB colour model (traditional colour theory), as well as in the RGB color model, RGB (additive) colour model. It lies between Violet (color), violet and cyan on the optical spe ...

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 respons ...

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 valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(OBE) in 1918,

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

in the

County of Northumberland Northumberland ( ) is a ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North East England, on the Anglo-Scottish border, border with Scotland. It is bordered by the North Sea to the east, Tyne and Wear and County Durham to the south, Cumb ...

and of

Adelaide Adelaide ( , ; ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and most populous city of South Australia, as well as the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. The name "Adelaide" may refer to ei ...

in the

Commonwealth of Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and numerous smaller islands. It has a total area of , making it the sixth-largest country in ...

, 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 (abbreviated ''Aberd.'' in List of post-nominal letters (United Kingdom), post-nominals; ) is a public university, public research university in Aberdeen, Scotland. It was founded in 1495 when William Elphinstone, Bis ...

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 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 is the capital city of Canada. It is located in the southern Ontario, southern portion of the province of Ontario, at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the cor ...

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