LIves in Cricket No 31 - Walter Robins

13 Chapter Two Highgate and East Molesey At the end of the war Vivian, now promoted to Warrant Officer, decided to continue his career with the Army and in 1921, after being promoted to Warrant Officer Class I and posted permanently to London, moved the family down with him. Immediately after they had taken up residence in Pimlico, Mabel Robins went to see the headmaster at Highgate School and, despite being unable to meet the full cost of the appropriate boarding- school fees, convinced him that her son Walter was exactly the right class of pupil the school needed at that time. Dr John Johnston believed that the reputation of a public school benefited from the sporting achievements of its pupils and he was the driving force in the battle for the growth of the school. When it came to sports, ‘his enthusiasm on the field knew no bounds; disaster touched him on the raw, triumph produced in him paroxysms of delight.’ It appeared that, thanks to his mother’s determination, Walter was about to enter the perfect environment for his future development. Eager to raise the standard of cricket played at Highgate, Dr Johnston had, as early as 1912, engaged the services of Albert Knight as coach. Knight had appeared in three Tests for England in Australia during the tour of The Robins family lived in this house at 22 Cambridge Street, Pimlico in the early 1920s, thus giving Robbie a residential qualification for Middlesex. Photograph taken in February 2013.