Armitage Robinson

Joseph Armitage Robinson (9 January 1858 – 7 May 1933) was a priest in the Church of England and scholar. He was successively Dean of Westminster (1902–1911) and of Wells (1911–1933).

Biography Robinson was born the son of a poor vicar in Keynsham, and was educated at Liverpool College and Christ's College, Cambridge, of which he became a fellow. He was ordained deacon in the Diocese of Ely in 1881, and priest in 1882, when he was Fellow. After a BA degree in 1881, he received his MA degree in 1884, was made Bachelor of Divinity (BD) in 1891, and Doctor of Divinity (DD) in 1896. The Dean of Westminster, George Granville Bradley, was severely ill throughout most of 1902, but wanted to stay in the position until the coronation of the King in August. Bradley resigned the following month, and the King appointed Robinson Dean of Westminster in early October, followed by a formal installation in Westminster Abbey on 28 October 1902. As Dean of Westminster, he was in November 1902 appointed Acting Chaplain to the Queen's Westminsters, the largest volunteer corps in London.

Robinson was Lord High Almoner from 1906 to 1933.

He served at Westminster until he was appointed Dean of Wells in 1911. It has been suggested that the move to Wells was arranged to avoid friction in the run-up to the coronation of George V.

As Dean of Wells Robinson enjoyed close links with Downside Abbey. He also critically explored the origins of the Glastonbury legends to which the Glastonbury Festival had revived attention. A renowned scholar in patristics (he was particularly known for his work on the Lausiac History and for having been the first person to translate into English the newly discovered work by Irenaeus The Demonstration of the Apostolic Preaching), Armitage Robinson was a participant in the bilateral Anglican-Roman Catholic Malines Conversations.

He held honorary doctorates from Göttingen (Hon Ph.D., 1893) and Halle (Hon. D.Theol., 1894).

He was appointed Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order (KCVO) in 1932, and died at Upton Noble, Somerset, on 7 May 1933 aged 75.

Works Encyclopaedia Biblica (contributor), 1903. St. Paul's Epistle to the Ephesians, A revised text and translation with exposition and notes London 1903, Second Edition 1904. The Lausiac History of Palladius (Texts and Studies, vol. vi), Cambridge 1904. (with Cuthbert Butler) The Lausiac History of Palladius, 1918. The Demonstration of the Apostolic Preaching (translated from the Armenian with introduction and notes), 1920 The Saxon Bishops of Wells, London, 1919. Somerset Historical Essays, Oxford,1921. The Times of St. Dunstan, Oxford, 1923. Two Glastonbury Legends: King Arthur and Joseph of Arimathaea, Cambridge 1926. Reprinted in 2010 by Kessinger Publishing, LLC.