Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Robinson, Robert Spencer
ROBINSON, Sir ROBERT SPENCER (1809–1889), admiral, born on 6 Jan. 1809, was the third son of Sir John Robinson, bart., archdeacon of Armagh, by Mary Anne, second daughter of James Spencer of Rathangan, Kildare, and grandson of William Freind (1715–1766) [q. v.], dean of Canterbury. He entered the navy in 1821; in 1826 was a midshipman of the Sybille in the Mediterranean, with Sir Samuel John Brooke Pechell [q. v.], and passed his examination in 1828. He was promoted commander on 28 June 1838, in July 1839 he was appointed to the Phœnix steamer, and in March 1840 to the Hydra, in the Mediterranean, where he took part in the operations on the coast of Syria [see Stopford, Sir Robert], and was advanced to post rank on 5 Nov. 1840. For the next nine years he remained on half-pay. From 1850 to 1852 he commanded the Arrogant in the Channel fleet, and in June 1854 he commissioned the Colossus, which formed part of the fleet in the Baltic and off Cronstadt in 1855. In January 1856 he was moved into the Royal George, which was paid off in the following August. In 1858–9 he commanded the Exmouth at Devonport, and on 9 June 1860 was promoted to be rear-admiral. He was then appointed one of a commission to inquire into the management of the dockyards, and in the following year became controller of the navy, which office he held for ten years. During the last two—December 1868 to February 1871—he was also a lord of the admiralty under Hugh Childers. He became vice-admiral on 2 April 1866, was made a civil K.C.B. on 7 Dec. 1868, and an admiral on 14 June 1871. During his later years he was well known as a writer to the ‘Times’ on subjects connected with the navy, and as author of some pamphlets, among which may be named ‘Results of Admiralty Organisation as established by Sir James Graham and Mr. Childers’ (1871), and ‘Remarks on H.M.S. Devastation’ (1873). He died in London on 27 July 1889. He married, in 1841, Clementina, daughter of Admiral Sir John Louis, bart.
[O'Byrne's Nav. Biogr. Dict.; Times, 31 July 1889; Foster's Baronetage; Navy Lists.]