John Richard Robinson

Sir John Richard Robinson (2 November 1828 – 30 November 1903) was an English journalist, manager and editor of the Daily News. He was also a prominent member of the London-based Reform Club and Guild of Literature and Art.

Early life and family Born on 2 November 1828 at Witham, Essex, Robinson was the second son of eight children of Richard Robinson, a congregational minister. His wife Sarah was the daughter of John Dennant, also a congregational minister, of Halesworth, Suffolk. The pair were close and they resided together at Sir John's home in West Kensington between 1901 and 1902.

Career Robinson's first effort towards journalism was a descriptive account (in the Daily News 14 February 1846) of a meeting of Wiltshire labourers to protest against the Corn Laws. After reporting for the Bedford Mercury, he obtained a post on the Wiltshire Independent at Devizes, and sent regular reports of the local markets to the Daily News.

In 1848 Robinson went to London. Having become a unitarian, he was made sub-editor of a Unitarian journal, The Inquirer, and did most of the work for John Lalor, the editor. His next post was on the Weekly News and Chronicle, under John Sheehan, and in 1855 he became editor of the Express, an evening paper under the same management as the Daily News. At the same time he was a prolific contributor elsewhere. He followed the revolutionary movements of Europe, and was in contact with Giuseppe Mazzini after writing an appreciation. He also knew Lajos Kossuth, Giuseppe Garibaldi, and other leaders. Robinson sent out an American journalist, Januarius Aloysius MacGahan, who was accompanied by Eugene Schuyler, the American consul-general in Turkey, to make inquiries. Pears's charges were corroborated. In 1887 Robinson became titular editor, the actual night editing being carried on chiefly by Peter William Clayden.

During 1893, Robinson was knighted on the recommendation of William Ewart Gladstone. The fortunes of the News meanwhile declined. During the Second Boer War in South Africa (1899–1902), Robinson's sympathies were with the Boers. The proprietors changed the policy of the paper to a support of the war, without restoring its prosperity. Then the policy was again reversed by new proprietors, but Robinson resigned in February 1901. Robinson was buried on the eastern side of Highgate Cemetery together with his wife, and their three children.