Lord Ripon's Family History

The Robinson family can be traced back to the early sixteenth century when the fortunes of the Robinson family were established by William Robinson of York who was born in 1522. He made his money by trading with the German ports as the Hanseatic League declined, and was rewarded for his efforts by becoming Lord Mayor of York in 1581 and subsequently its member of parliament. Like most successful merchants in Tudor times he bought land and when he died Staxby and Baldersby in Yorkshire and Wotton in Lincolnshire were part of his legacy. The family survived the Civil War though Royalist in sympathy, and William Robinson’s grandson accepted a baronetcy at the Restoration and in the 1660s served as a member of the restoration Parliament.

When he died in 1689 the estates passed to his nephew William who also received a baronetcy for supporting the new King. He continued the family’s connection with York and was its M.P. from 1697 to 1722. William’s grandson Thomas, elevated the Robinson’s further when he was rewarded with the Barony of Grantham in 1761 for political and diplomatic services to the Hanoverians. He married a great-great-grand-daughter of Oliver Cromwell, Frances Worsley. His son Thomas, the Second Baron Grantham, further added to the increasing wealth of the family by pursuing an undistinguished diplomatic career as Ambassador to Spain.

In 1780 at the age of forty-two Lord Grantham married Mary Gemima Grey Yorke, daughter of the second Earl of Hardwicke. They proved to be a devoted couple during their short marriage, and provided a loving home environment for the two sons who survived infancy. The elder, Thomas Phillip was born in 1781 and he inherited the title and the estates when Grantham died in 1786. Additional legacies, among them the de Grey earldom in 1833, and the Ripon estates of Elizabeth Lawrence of Studley Royal made him one of the wealthiest landowners in England in the mid 1840s.

As Earl de Grey he served Peel as First Lord of the Admiralty in 1834-35 and as Viceroy of Ireland in 1841-44. But it was the Earl de Grey’s younger brother Frederick John who brought the greatest distinction to the Robinson family by becoming Prime Minister, albeit for a short time, in the autumn and winter of 1827-28.

Frederick Robinson, Ripon’s father, like most younger sons of the day had made politics a career and entered the House of Commons in 1806 as member for the Irish rotten borough of Carlow. Before attaining cabinet rank he had had wide diplomatic and political experience as Under Secretary for the Colonies in 1809, and at the Admiralty the following year.

It was perhaps to alleviate his impecunious position that in August 1814 he married the plain but rich heiress, Lady Sarah Albina Louisa Hobart, daughter of the 4th Earl of Buckingham who had no legitimate heir. When Lady Sarah came into her inheritance in 1816, Robinson for the first time in his life, had a measure of financial independence.

During the making of Canning’s government he had been created the first Viscount Goderich and had taken the leadership of the Lords. In the summer of 1827, on Canning’s death, George IV called him to the premiership.

The premiership of Ripon’s father is conspicuous for its failure. His good nature became a weakness in dealing with subordinates and this gave rise to serious disputes in the cabinet over matters concerning the rights of the King and foreign policy. Burdened by his own domestic cares, Ripon’s father was increasingly unable to control the ill-assorted mixture of Whigs and Tories in the Cabinet.

It was at number 10 Downing Street, during his father’s short tenure as Prime Minister, that George Frederick Samuel Robinson, the subject of this lecture, was born on the 24th October, 1827 at No.10 Downing Street.

His schooling was haphazardly given at his mother’s home, Nocton Hall in Lincolnshire, and he attended neither school nor university. The reason for this seems to have been his mother’s fear for the health of her son. Her first son died soon after birth in 1816, and a daughter Elinor Henrietta died at the age of eleven in 1826. No chances were taken with George Frederick Samuel.

Ripon married at the age of twenty-four to Henrietta Vyner who was the grand-daughter of Ripon’s uncle Earl de Grey. The ceremony was held at the house of Earl de Grey in St. James Square in London on 8th April, 1851. They were a devoted couple and raised one son, Oliver. When Ripon came into his inheritance in 1859 he inherited not only his father’s lands but his uncle’s as well. This included not only Nocton Hall in Lincolnshire but primarily Studley Royal just outside Ripon. The house of Studley Royal burned down in 1946 but the stables (which are now privately owned) still survive.

Studley Royal must have been truly impressive as it stood in the grounds of a four-hundred acre deer park. In addition to one of the most beautiful water gardens in England the land encompasses the ruin of Fountains Abbey. The property is now owned by the National Trust and is well worth a visit!