Sir Thomas Robinson, 1st Baronet

Sir Thomas Robinson, 1st Baronet (1703 – 3 March 1777) was a British Whig politician and colonial administrator who represented Morpeth in the House of Commons of Great Britain from 1727 to 1734. Along with serving as the governor of Barbados from 1742 to 1747, in his private life Robinson dabbled in architecture and art collecting. An extravagant character, his life was the inspiration for numerous anecdotes.

Early life Robinson was eldest son and heir of William Robinson (bapt. Rokeby, Yorkshire, 23 September 1675, d. 24 February 1720), who married, in 1699, Anne, daughter and heiress of Robert Walters of Cundall in Yorkshire; she died on 26 July 1730, aged 53, and was buried in the centre of the south aisle of Merton church, Surrey, where a marble monument was placed to her memory. Sir Thomas, her son, also erected on the old Roman highway, near Rokeby, an obelisk in her honour. Another son was Richard, 1st Baron Rokeby, Church of Ireland Primate of All Ireland and Archbishop of Armagh.

After finishing his education, Robinson went on the Grand Tour, paying attention to architecture in Greece and Italy, and the school of Palladio. On returning to England he purchased a commission in the army, but resigned it in favour of his brother Septimus. They included one which, according to Horace Walpole, he was supposed to have found among the papers of his wife's first husband.

Robinson's expenditure was extravagant. He rebuilt Rokeby Hall at Rokeby Park, the name of which he changed from Rookby.

Arriving in Barbados on 8 August 1742, Robinson had trouble with his assembly, which raised difficulties about voting for his salary. Without consulting the house, he ordered changes in his residence at Pilgrim, and he undertook the construction of an armoury and arsenal. He had to pay most of the charges out of his own pocket.

Robinson's reputation was as a "specious, empty man", with a talent for flattery. He was tall and thin, while his contemporary of the same name Thomas Robinson, 1st Baron Grantham was short and fat. "I can't imagine", said the witty Lady Townshend, "why one is preferred to the other. The one is as broad as the other is long". He worked also on Claydon House for The 2nd Earl of Verney, a business associate through Ranelagh Gardens.

Robinson left his brother William his title but not his estates. His other brother, Archbishop Lord Rokeby, had his books, including those on architecture and antiquities.

Robinson and Lord Chesterfield maintained a correspondence for fifty years, and he kept all the letters and copies. At his death he left them to an apothecary who had married his natural daughter, with instructions to publish; but Robinson's brother, Archbishop Lord Rokeby, stopped the publication. Sir John Hawkins recorded in his Life of Johnson that when Chesterfield wanted to appease Samuel Johnson, he employed Robinson as his mediator.

Family

On 25 October 1728 Robinson married, at Belfrey's, York, Elizabeth, the eldest daughter of Charles Howard, 3rd Earl of Carlisle, and widow of Nicholas Lechmere, 1st Baron Lechmere. His first wife died at Bath, Somerset on 10 April 1739, and was buried in the family vault under the new church of Rokeby. He married at Barbados a second wife, whose maiden name was Booth; she was the widow of Samuel Salmon, a rich ironmonger. She declined to follow Robinson back to England.