Arnold Wathen Robinson

Arnold Wathen Robinson RWA, FMGP (1888–1955) was an English stained-glass artist. Although Robinson's family, on the paternal and maternal side were involved in local government, he sought a career as a stained-glass artist. During World War I he initially enlisted in the Artists Rifles, and was then released from military service to manage a shell factory. Three of his four younger brothers were to be killed in the Great War.

Robinson attended Clifton College and Royal West of England Academy, followed by an apprenticeship with Christopher Whall. Through his relationship with Joseph Bell & Son, Robinson received commissions for work, became a director at the firm

World War I Arnold Wathen Robinson was the eldest of five sons, and three of his brothers were to be killed in the Great War.#tag:ref|Second Lieutenant Edward Colston Robinson served in the 8th Somerset Light Infantry and was killed in France on 26 September 1915 aged 21 years. He is remembered in panel 38 and 39 of the Loos Memorial. Lance Corporal Clifford Kossuth Robinson of the Canterbury Mounted Rifles, New Zealand Expeditionary Force died in Malta on 8 December 1915 aged 26 years and is buried in the Pieta Military Cemetery. He had been fighting in the Dardanelles. Before enrolling he had been training as a Chartered Accountant. Lieutenant Geoffrey Wathen Robinson served with the 10th Gloucestershire Regiment and was killed in France on 25 September 1915. He is buried in St Mary’s A.D.S. Cemetery in Haisnes, with the gravestone inscription: "I THANK MY GOD UPON EVERY REMEMBRANCE OF YOU".

Education Robinson was educated at Clifton College and was to become an Academician of the Royal West of England Academy (RWA).

Robinson became a director of the Bristol firm of Joseph Bell & Son, which carried out stained glass work for many West Country churches. Especially well known in Bristol are the Civil Defence windows that Arnold Robinson designed for Bristol Cathedral and his Bunyan and Tyndale windows in Tyndale Baptist Church. Joseph Bell & Son was initially established by Joseph Bell (1810–1895) and then run by his son, Frederick Henry Bell (1847–1899) and grandson, Frederick George Bell (1878–1967) until 1923 when it was sold to Arnold Robinson.

Arnold Robinson was also heavily involved with the Bristol Guild of Applied Art. Established in 1908 by followers of William Morris's Arts and Crafts creed, the Bristol Guild of Applied Art was a co-operative of skilled workers offering hand-crafted work to replace mass-produced goods, improving the relationship between the worker and his work. Initially the guild was unsuccessful. In 1918 it was bought as a business by three private owners, including Arnold Robinson; It was to become one of Bristol's most successful shops and the Guild Gallery on the shop's second floor an important Arts centre.

Personal life Arnold married Constance Burgess in 1925. They had three children, Daphne, Cecily and Geoffrey. Geoffrey followed in his father's footsteps as a stained glass artist. After his death in 1955 Arnold's son, Geoffrey took over the firm in 1959 until his retirement in 1996.