Lives in Cricket No 38 - Lionel Robinson

12 Chapter One: The early life of Lionel Robinson – a globetrotter makes his fortune Ancestors, birth and family Lionel Robinson’s father was Anthony Bennett Robinson JP (1831-1908), who was born at Chilcote in Somerset, the second of four sons 6 of Charles Frederick Robinson (1796-1865), a lieutenant in the Royal Navy, and Eleanor Helyer Rocke (1798-1865). Anthony followed in his father’s footsteps at first but then transferred into the mercantile marine. This led to a considerable amount of travelling as he made his way in the shipping trade in the Indian Ocean and the South China Sea. According to his son, William, he first journeyed to Australia in 1853, arriving on 26 November and visiting Melbourne soon after. He kept a detailed diary of this excursion, going into so much detail that he even noted the Bible readings that he made each evening. Anthony also wrote in his diary that he was ‘in ecstasy with the grandeur of the Port, the beauty of the splendid country around and the multitude of magnificent vessels anchored around us’. 7 Surviving legal documents have later placed him in Brisbane in the early 1860s and also listed his address in May 1861 as 28 Gordon Street, Gordon Square, Middlesex. Anthony Robinson was residing in Ceylon, now Sri Lanka, when his eldest son, Lionel George Robinson, was born on 29 August 1866 in the Galle Face Hotel, Colombo. The Robinson family moved to Australia when Lionel was only months old. The story of his mother is of considerable interest; it is glossed over in most sources and I am greatly in debt to Lionel’s great-nephew, Michael Robinson, for revealing the truth. She was born Harriet Barton (1840- 1910), the seventh out of 12 children (and the fifth daughter) of William (1795-1881) and Mary nee Whydah (1808-1872). Her family were a well-to- do family in Australia, with interests in politics, business and the law; 8 her younger brother was Sir Edmund Barton who trained as a lawyer, entered the NSW parliament and played a leading role in the formation of the 6 The third son, Charles John, became Principal of Queens College Harley Street 7 Anthony Robinson arrived in Australia in a time of boom; the discovery of gold near Melbourne in 1851 led to the population of Australia, which had stood at about 500,000 beforehand, more than tripling in the next 18 years. 8 William Barton trained as an accountant in England and emigrated to Australia in 1827 when he was appointed principal accountant and secretary of the Australian Agricultural Company. Backed by wealthy shareholders including directors of the Bank of England and the East India Company and by members of Parliament, Barton’s task was to oversee the raising of sheep in NSW on a grand scale. When he travelled out to Australia, he was accompanied by his recently married wife, 25 other passengers, eight French Merino rams and no less than 312 French Merino ewes. When she reached Australia, his wife Mary, who had been well-educated, had time to establish various schools in between her 12 pregnancies.