Lives in Cricket No 38 - Lionel Robinson

21 Chapter Two: Robinson comes to Norfolk – tentative beginnings as a ‘rabbit’ Emigrating to England Although Robinson came to London and joined the Stock Exchange in 1899, he remained closely linked to Australia as a businessman and as an owner of racehorses (see chapter three). It was only after his main coup as a mining industrialist, the trip to Broken Hill in 1905, that he could be said to have settled permanently in England. Before buying Old Buckenham he appears to have been resident in London. The 1901 census shows the Robinson family living at Prince Arthur Road, Hampstead, with Lionel describing himself as ‘stockbroker, agent, employer’. Even when he did move to Norfolk, the 1911 census indicates that he maintained a town house in South Audley Street in Mayfair. This might seem to be an appropriate point to consider Lionel’s character with a selection of views from those who have gone into print: Michael Down: ‘a strange character’ with an ‘obstinate, aggressive nature and propensity for abusive slanging matches’. Jeremy Malies: ‘A Philistine of the first chop, [he] was a vulgar if well- intentioned Australian millionaire’. Barry Wilson: ‘Lionel ... tried hard to establish himself as a landed English gentleman ... he had the money but not quite the style ... he was neither genial, effortless nor stylish. He was obstinate and aggressive, and known for his abusive slanging matches with staff.’ Gideon Haigh: he had ‘aspirations to enter English society – unsuccessfully ... for he was dismissed as an arriviste ’. Leo McKinstry: ‘never fully embraced by the establishment because of his aggressive manner’. Tom Walshe: ‘bluff, tough and extremely wealthy ... notoriously obstinate and quick- tempered ... Stories of his irascible nature abounded ... On arriving at Eccles Road station by train from London, he would phone the Hall to demand the entrance gates be opened so he could drive through without hindrance. Once, when his instructions went unheeded, he furiously rammed his car through the gates causing much damage to the vehicle and the obstructing portals.’ Opinions thus seem unanimous that Lionel was very much ‘new money’ and further evidence that he missed the point of country house cricket is provided both by the inappropriately strong sides that he put in the