The Dictionary of Australasian Biography/Robe, Major-General Frederick Holt
Robe, Major-General Frederick Holt, C.B., succeeded Sir George Grey as Governor of South Australia in Oct. 1845. He was an English military man, and Tory of the old school. He is best known for his unsuccessful attempt to induce the old Legislative Council to impose a royalty on copper, and for his, for the time, successful attempt to subsidise the various religious bodies. The latter policy was contrary to the principles on which the colony was founded, and was repealed in 1851, so soon as the elective element was introduced into the Legislative Council. General Robe was recalled in August 1848, and he returned to England, where he died on April 4th, 1872.