John Joseph Robinson
John Joseph Robinson
The Very Reverend John Robinson was born in Dublin in 1852. True to the traditions of a family that for five generations sent most of its sons to either the Church or to the Bar he abandoned a youthful desire for the military life in order to prepare himself for a clerical profession. His father, a newspaper proprietor in Dublin, encouraged this step and had him sent to Blackheath School. Later in life the Dean wrote, “My five years at Blackheath were of the most melancholy description. The fact is that I was a sickly boy and had not at that time enough vigour in mind or body to come to the front in anything. I was as idle as a boy could be and I was not specially successful at games. The only two things that I learnt at Blackheath were to bear being bullied with tolerable composure – I had more than my share of it – and to play football. As I was afterwards a noted football player, I may mention that Blackheath at that time was famous for its football”.
He entered Trinity College Dublin in 1868 with a view to taking orders and in his new environment he quickly became robust in mind and body. Reading, sometimes for fourteen hours a day, he got a first moderatorship and other distinctions. At the same time he was captain of Trinity football team, won prizes on the running track and on the river, played racquets and was president of the University Philosophical Society. He graduated with a BA in 1872 and MA a few years later. During his university career he achieved the distinction of gold medallist in English History, literature and political science.
In 1875 he was ordained to a curacy in Stepney in the slums of East London. He returned to Ireland in 1879 as curate of Saint Matthias’, Dublin, under Canon Wynne, later Bishop of Killaloe. In 1886 he moved to the Parish of Nun’s Cross, Killiskey, in Wicklow and then to the more important Parish of Delgany. From there he went to Taney, Dublin, acting as member of the Diocesan Council and General Synod and was appointed to a canonry in Christ Church Cathedral. In 1900 he was called to the Church of the Holy Trinity and Saint Olaf in Waterford and appointed Treasurer and Prebendary of Saint Patrick’s.
In March, 1903 he was chosen as Vicar for the Parish of Belfast and in April, 1904 appointed Dean of the Cathedral. It was largely due to his efforts that funds were raised to complete the nave. In his autobiography, Dean Robinson wrote “And so, after other changes, I find myself in charge of a half-built cathedral and a big debt. My work is partly done for I have at any rate had the satisfaction of seeing the nave opened for worship, but so much remains to be accomplished that the structure has at present as its chief characteristic the pathetic ugliness of half-finished work. Some day a millionaire will come forward and make himself a name aere perennius[more lasting than bronze] by completing the building; but, meanwhile, we have music of a character that entitles us to hold up our heads among cathedrals and the people, mostly of the working class, accustomed to pewed-in churches, like the welcome that the free chairs of the cathedral afford. They find too that, though I cannot preach, I can bark out things that they understand; and thus, so long as I see an increase in that best ornament of a church – a big congregation, I am half-inclined to let the other ornamentations take their time”.
In 1907 he was appointed examining chaplain by the Bishop. He was a member of the Connor Diocesan Council and a representative to the General Synod.
He married in 1878 Henrietta Harriet, the younger daughter of Sir John Lubbock, third baronet and a sister of the first Lord Avebury. While in Belfast he was highly esteemed both in the Cathedral and community at large. He was a preacher of power and charm and noted for his organising ability.
But, in 1911 he resigned for reasons of ill-health. He received a glowing letter from the Cathedral Board thanking him and his wife for their contribution after he sent a letter to the Board informing them that he had forwarded his resignation to the Bishop and saying that he was not coming back to Belfast.
He then accepted the incumbency of St Andrew’s, a small wooden church in Edmonton, Alberta before becoming Rector of Christ Church, Edmonton and warden of St John’s Theological College in Winnipeg. His last journey was to Toronto, a distance of 1700 miles, and it was shortly after his return to the college that he died in June 1916.
At the time of his death, he was survived by his widow and by four sons and two daughters. The sons were: Rev J L Robinson, MA, succentor of St Patrick’s Cathedral, Dublin: 2nd- Lieut D L Robinson, Royal Marines: Lieut F L Robinson, MC, Royal Marines who was also an international hockey player: N L Robinson, Royal Field Artillery. The daughters were both married, the elder to Commander B T Coote, RN and the younger to Mr M S Turten.
The leftmost of the two “John” pillars in the Baptistry, representing John the Evangelist, was given by the Cathedral Girls’ Friendly Society in joint memory of Dean Robinson and the Reverend James Albert Carey. Both men appear in a photograph in the Cathedral collection taken in 1904.
