Brooke Robinson

Brooke Robinson (1836–1911) was a British Conservative Party politician, who was MP for Dudley and held a number of public posts including that of County Coroner for Dudley. He also was an art collector and benefactor whose legacy was the Town Hall and a museum in the town of Dudley.

Biography

Brooke Robinson, son of William Robinson and Harriet (née Johnson), Robinson was educated at Rugby. He was admitted as an Attorney at Law and Solicitor in Chancery in 1857. His father, William Robinson, had been the previous holder of the post.

Robinson married Eugenia Collis, the daughter of George Richard Collis of Stourton Castle, on 10 March 1870. Subsequently, however, he was elected four times as MP for Dudley: in 1886, 1892, 1895 and 1900. He represented the Conservative Party during this time. Robinson was the first local man to be elected as MP for Dudley since Thomas Hawkes resigned the position in 1844. Local Tories emphasized this with the slogan 'A Dudley man for Dudley'.

He made the decision not to stand for the 1906 election on health grounds.

Brooke Robinson died on 20 October 1911 at his home, Barford House, which is near Warwick, and was buried at St Thomas’s Church, Dudley. The museum, known as the Brooke Robinson Museum, opened on 18 May 1931. In 1979, the museum trustees agreed to the collection being moved to the Dudley Museum and Art Gallery.

Parliamentary election results