A Naval Biographical Dictionary/Robinson, Louis Augustus
ROBINSON. (Commander, 1837. f-p., 19; h-p., 24.)
Louis Augustus Robinson, born at Sherburn, in Yorkshire, is son of Dr. Robinson.
This officer entered the Navy, 10 April, 1804, as Midshipman, on board the Courageux 74, Capts. Chas. Boyles, Rich. Lee, and Jas. Bissett. Under Capt. Lee he fought in Sir Rich. Strachan’s action 4 Nov. 1805 (previously to which he had escorted a convoy to St. Helena), and shared in the celebrated pursuit after Jerome Buonaparte. He was also present at the capture, 13 March, 1806, of the Marengo 80, bearing the flag of Rear-Admiral Linois, and 40- gun frigate Belle Poule. In May, 1808, he became Master’s Mate of the Alaart 18, Capt. Jas. Tilliard, stationed in the Baltic; where, in a prize belonging to that vessel, he succeeded, in July, 1809, in beating off one, and capturing the other, of two armed boats, by whom he had been simultaneously attacked. When in charge, 9 Aug. ensuing, of a second prize, carrying but 7 men, with small-arms, he gallantly repelled three attempts made to board him by a Danish privateer lugger, mounting 4 guns, with a crew of 40 men, 9 of whom were killed and 11 wounded; and while acting, in the course of the same year, as Lieutenant of the Sheldrake 16, he served in the boats of that sloop in an attack upon several vessels lying under the protection of a battery on the coast of Jutland. One of these was brought out, and the remainder compelled to slip and run on shore, with a loss to the British of a Lieutenant, Watson, and 3 men killed. After serving for some months, again as Midshipman, in the Owen Glendower 36, Capt. Wm. Selby, and Monarch 74, commanded by his former Captain, Lee, he sailed, towards the close of 1810, for the East Indies, in the Malacca 36, Capt. Wm. Butterfield, Becoming, in the summer of 1811, Acting-Lieutenant of the Leda 36, Capt. Geo. Sayer, he assisted on shore in that capacity at the reduction of the island of Java. He was confirmed a Lieutenant 7 Feb. 1812; and was subsequently appointed – 18 Aug. 1812, for a passage home, to the Modeste 36, Capt. Jas. Coutts Crawford – 9 June, 1813, after three months of half-pay, to the Drake 10, Capt. Gregory Grant, under whom he served in the North Sea and West Indies, and partook, 15 Feb. 1815, of two actions with the American brig Chasseur – 25 May, 1815, to the Warrior 74, Capt. John Tremayne Rodd, in which ship he returned home from the West Indies in the ensuing Sept. – 9 Sept. 1818, as First-Lieutenant, to the Mersey 26, Capt. Edw. Collier, fitting for the North American station, where he remained for three years – 11 March, 1823, to the Superb 78, Capts. Adam M‘Kenzie and Sir Thos. Staines, employed, until Nov. 1825, in the West Indies and off Lisbon – and 3 April, 1834, to the command of the Viper brigantine of 6 guns. In the latter vessel he served on the coasts of Portugal and Spain until two months after his promotion to the rank of Commander 10 Jan. 1837. He has since been on half-pay.
For injuries sustained so early as the year 1806, Commander Robinson was awarded a pension 15 Aug. 1844. He married Elizabeth, daughter of John Clayton, Esq., of Keppy, co. York. Agent J. Hinxman.