A Naval Biographical Dictionary/Robson, William
ROBSON. (Commander, 1846. f-p., 17; h-p., 22.)
William Robson, born 17 Jan. 1796, is youngest son of the late Rev. Jas. Robson, Vicar of Aycliffe; and brother of the Rev. Jas. Robson, Vicar of Aynderby Steeple, a Magistrate for the North Riding of Yorkshire. Another brother, John, a Lieutenant of the Cornwallis 50, was drowned about the year 1807 in India, in a heavy surf, owing to his zeal in watering that ship. His cousin, William Robson, Master’s Mate of the Spartan, was killed in Sir Jahleel Brenton’s brilliant action with the Franco-Neapolitan squadron in the Bay of Naples, 3 May, 1810.
This officer entered the Navy, in May, 1808, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the Polyphemus 64, Capt. Wm. Pryce Cumby, flag-ship for some time of Vice- Admiral Bartholomew Sam. Rowley in the West Indies, where he was present, in April and June, 1809, at the capture of the French 74-gun ship d’Haupoult, and the surrender, after an arduous blockade, of the city of St. Domingo. Towards the close of 1809 he was lent to the Daedalus 32, Capt. Sam. Hood Inglefield; and while subsequently attached, with Capt. Cumby, to the Hyperion 36, he visited, as Master’s Mate, the latitude of Greenland, for the protection of the fisheries, and was for four months frozen up in the harbour of St. John’s, Newfoundland, during the winter of 1812. On leaving the Hyperion he joined, in April, 1815, the Impregnable 104, Capt. Sam. Campbell Rowley, under whom he beheld the surrender of Naples, and continued for a period of seven months. During the next 14 years Mr. Robson (he had passed his examination 1 June, 1814) was employed in the Hon.E.I.Co.’s service. He then, in Nov. 1829, again joined the Navy, and was placed as Mate on board the Echo steamer, Lieut.-Commander Geo. Bissett. In that vessel he served in the Channel and Mediterranean until promoted to the rank of Lieutenant 22 July, 1830. His succeeding appointments were – 9 Sept. 1835, for three years, to the Phoenix steam-sloop, Capt. Wm. Honyman Henderson, stationed on the north coast of Spain, where his zeal and exertions as Second and First Lieutenant frequently procured him, in common with others, the thanks of Commodore Lord John Hay – 21 Nov. 1839, to the command of the Flamer steam-vessel, fitting for the West Indies, whence he returned at the close of 1842 – 10 Aug. 1844, to the Victoria and Albert yacht, Capt. Lord Adolphus FitzClarence – 26 Dec. following, to the command of the Nautilus 10, employed in protecting the Channel fisheries – and, 30 June, 1845, a second time to the Victoria and Albert. In the Flamer Mr. Robson conveyed the Right Hon. Sir Chas. FitzRoy, K.H., the new Governor-General of the Leeward Islands, on the first visit paid by him on his arrival to the different islands under bhis command; and on two occasions he conveyed General Maister, the Military Commander-in-Chief, on a tour of inspection to the islands in the Caribbean Sea. On the first occasion he was personally intrusted with the duty of examining and reporting on the nature of the fortifications and naval resources of the French islands. In the Victoria and Albert he accompanied the Queen to Scotland, Antwerp, and Tréport, and on a cruize among the Channel Islands. He continued in the royal yacht until advanced to his present rank 7 Oct. 1846.
In 1814 Commander Robson invented the transparent compass now supplied with the Admiralty charts. A few months prior to his appointment to the Flamer he was offered by the New Zealand Association the command of the ship Tory, then going out with the preliminary expedition for the colonization of those islands – but the Admiralty refused to permit his acceptance of it. He married, 12 Nov. 1828, his cousin Margaret Grey Robson, and was left a widower 15 Aug. 1834.