Robert Spencer Robinson
Encyclopedia
Admiral
Sir Robert Spencer Robinson KCB
(1809–1889) was a British naval officer, who served as two five-year terms as Controller of the Navy
from February 1861 to February 1871, and was therefore responsible for the procurement of warships at a time when the Royal Navy
was changing over from unarmoured wooden ships to ironclads. As a result of the Captain
disaster, Robinson was not given a third term as Controller. Robinson has been "described as having one of the best brains of any Victorian admiral".
On 10 May 1841 he married Clementina, daughter of Admiral Sir John Louis.
, commanded by Lord James Townshend. Dublin was flagship on the South America station. In 1836 he was appointed to the 84-gun two-decker Asia
. Asia was commissioned on 18 March 1836 by Captain William Fisher, and served in the Mediterranean. On 26 September 1837, he was appointed to the 28-gun frigate Tyne, which had been commissioned on 5 September 1837 by Captain John Townshend, and was also serving in Mediterranean. On 28 June 1838 he was promoted to commander.
In April 1839, he completed a book: The Nautical Steam Engine Explained, and Its Powers and Capabilities Described for the Officers of the Navy and Others Interested in the Important Results of Steam Navigation.
On 20 July 1839 he was appointed captain of the 6-gun paddle-sloop Phoenix
, serving in the Mediterranean. However the captain of the 4-gun paddle-sloop Hydra
, Commander Anthony William Milward died, and Robinson was appointed to Hydra (also serving in the Mediterranean). A replacement for Robinson as captain of the Phoenix was appointed on 1 March 1840. Under Robinson Hydra took part in Commodore Charles Napier's attack on Sidon
in September 1840. Robinson was promoted to captain on 5 November 1840; a replacement for Robinson as captain of Hydra was appointed on 26 December 1840.
On 15 February 1850, Robinson was appointed as captain of the 46-gun screw-frigate Arrogant
in the Channel Fleet off Lison, where he replaced Captain Robert Fitzroy. Arrogant paid off at Portsmouth on 26 September 1852.
On 15 June 1854, Robinson commissioned the new 80-gun screw two-decker Colossus
at Portsmouth. Colossus served on the North America and West Indies station in 1854, and then in 1855 in the Baltic during what is now called the Crimean War
. Robinson left Colossus on 24 January 1856.
On 13 February 1856, Robinson was appointed captain of the 102-gun screw three-decker Royal George
, which was one of the ships that transported the British Army back from the Crimea after the conclusion of the campaign there. The Royal George paid off at Sheerness on 28 August 1856.
On 25 August 1856, Robinson was appointed Superintendent of the Steam Reserve at Devonport, flying his flag in the 60-gun screw 'blockship' Ajax
. from 1 February 1858 until May 1859, he was captain of the 90-gun screw-two-decker Exmouth
guard ship of ordinary
, Devonport.
Robinson was promoted to rear admiral on 9 June 1860.
resigned as Controller of the Navy
. Rear Admiral Robinson was appointed to replace him.
As Controller, "Rear Admiral Robert Spencer Robinson... was an iron-willed administrator for an ironclad age. Bitterly dissatisfied with the private contractors as well as dockyard obfuscation, Robinson steadily applied pressure on the Board for greater control and greater centralisation, not just in the hands of Their Lordships, but more his own. It was the only way to directly insure the work would be completed as required. In the person of Chief Constructor, Edward J. Reed
, the Controller was able to combine the new architecture of naval power with its execution.'"
Robinson was promoted to vice admiral on 2 April 1866. He was appointed Knight Commander of the Bath, on the civil list on 7 December 1868, and Fellow of the Royal Society
on 3 June 1869.
One of the types vessels Robinson had built when he was Controller were "shallow-draft ironclads which were passed off as 'coast defence vessels' but which were... viewed by their designers at the Admiralty as offensive weapons, specifically intended for attacking coastal fortifications and naval arsenals. In urging the construction of several such vessels in 1866, Vice-Admiral Sir Robert Spencer Robinson, stated that they were 'intended either for coast defences, or the attack of shipping in an enemy harbour.'... In short, the Royal Navy developed an alternative strategy to the close blockade, an alternative built round destroying enemy vessels before they could utilize their ability to evade blockaders. The 'coast defence' battleships, along with the gun- and later torpedo boats were, in the words of Lambert
, 'the cutting edge of British strategy, their function... to destroy fleets sheltering inside their bases..."
"Throughout the 1860s [Robert] Spencer Robinson consistently rated the British ironclad fleet inferior to its cross-Channel rival, in order to lend weight to his campaigns for enlarged and accelerated shipbuilding programmes. In late 1867, for instance, he wrote that a 'comparison was made between the armoured ships of England and those of France; it was pointed out [in the autumn of 1866] that, on the whole we were manifestly inferior in the number of our ironclads to that Power, taking into account those that were building... The inferiority in the number of ironclad ships, which existed in 1866 still exists in 1867.' [Robert] Spencer Robinson counted thirty-nice English ironclads to forty-six French." "At no time after 1865 was Britain's lead in completed ironclads endangered. [Robert] Spencer Robinson [and his colleagues] Milne
and Corry thus serves as wonderful examples of what defence analyst Edward Luttwak
has termed 'amoral navalism'; professionals agitating for the enlargement of the force at their disposal without regard for either the constraints imposed by politics and foreign policy (or any other factors for that matter), or the actual menace posed by rival forces."
In the 1868 General Election
. the Liberals
, won a majority, and William Ewart Gladstone
became Prime Minister
on 9 December 1868. The custom in those days was for the Board of Admiralty to resign when there was a change of government. On 18 December 1868, Vice-Admiral Robinson was appointed Third Naval Lord. The new First Lord of the Admiralty
, Hugh Culling Eardley Childers
"initiated a determined programme of cost and manpower reductions, fully backed by the Prime Minister, Gladstone described him [Childers] as 'a man likely to scan with a rigid eye the civil expenses of the Naval Service'. He got the naval estimates just below the psychologically important figure of £10,000,000. Childers strengthened his own position as First Lord by reducing the role of the Board of Admiralty to a purely formal one, making meetings rare and short and confining the Naval Lords rigidly to the administrative functions... Initially Childers had the support of the influential Controller of the Navy, Vice-Admiral Sir [Robert] Spencer Robinson."
"In 1870 [Robert] Spencer Robinson counted the British ironclad force at thirty-nice ships, and that of France at forty-one, claiming that France had a superiority of numbers in heavy guns, and concluded that '[a]t this moment an alliance between France and so small a naval power as Holland would turn most seriously the naval preponderance against England...' With all this [the First Naval Lord] [Admiral S.C.] Dacres
cordially concurred, pointing out especially that '[t]there is no doubt that we are outnumbered by some ten vessels of the special service class [i.e. coast and harbour defence vessels] of French ships.'"" After the end of the Franco-Prussian War
and "Robinson's departure from the Admiralty, calmer more balanced heads prevailed, and more rational assessments of the technological disparity between the two battlefleets were soon forthcoming."
When Robinson's subordinate, the Chief Constructor, Edward James Reed
resigned in July 1870, Robinson described this as a national disaster.
Robinson's second five-year term as Controller came to an end on 9 February 1871. He was not appointed to a third term because the Prime Minister William Ewart Gladstone
decided against it, in the light of the loss of the Captain
, for which Robinson was quite unfairly blamed by the First Lord of the Admiralty
, Hugh Childers
. Robinson's replacement as Third Naval Lord and Controller was Captain Robert Hall.
In 1871 he wrote "Results of Admiralty Organisation as Established by Sir James Graham and Mr Childers".
The New York Times published the following on 13 September 1871: "The entire ship-building interest of Hull, England, is reported to have been purchased by a Company, of who the leading officers are Vice-Admiral Robert Spencer Robinson and Naval Constructor Reid [sic]."
In 1873 he stood as independent Liberal critic of Gladstone's naval policy at the Hull by-election, without success.
Admiral
Admiral is the rank, or part of the name of the ranks, of the highest naval officers. It is usually considered a full admiral and above vice admiral and below admiral of the fleet . It is usually abbreviated to "Adm" or "ADM"...
Sir Robert Spencer Robinson KCB
Order of the Bath
The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate mediæval ceremony for creating a knight, which involved bathing as one of its elements. The knights so created were known as Knights of the Bath...
(1809–1889) was a British naval officer, who served as two five-year terms as Controller of the Navy
Third Sea Lord
The Third Sea Lord and Controller of the Navy was formerly the Naval Lord and member of the Board of Admiralty responsible for procurement and matériel in the British Royal Navy...
from February 1861 to February 1871, and was therefore responsible for the procurement of warships at a time when the Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
was changing over from unarmoured wooden ships to ironclads. As a result of the Captain
HMS Captain (1869)
HMS Captain was an unsuccessful warship built for the Royal Navy due to public pressure. She was a masted turret ship, designed and built by a private contractor against the wishes of the Controller's department...
disaster, Robinson was not given a third term as Controller. Robinson has been "described as having one of the best brains of any Victorian admiral".
Personal life
He was born at Welford Park, Berkshire, the son of Sir John Robinson Bt. (1754–1832), Archdeacon of Armagh.On 10 May 1841 he married Clementina, daughter of Admiral Sir John Louis.
Early naval career
Robinson entered the Navy on 6 December 1821. He was promoted to lieutenant on 27 September 1830, and from 5 May 1831 until 1834 served as lieutenant in the 50-gun razee frigate DublinHMS Dublin (1812)
HMS Dublin was a 74-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 13 February 1812 at Rotherhithe.In 1826 she was reduced to a 40-gun ship...
, commanded by Lord James Townshend. Dublin was flagship on the South America station. In 1836 he was appointed to the 84-gun two-decker Asia
HMS Asia (1824)
HMS Asia was an 84-gun second rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 19 January 1824 at Bombay Dockyard.She was Codrington's flagship at the Battle of Navarino....
. Asia was commissioned on 18 March 1836 by Captain William Fisher, and served in the Mediterranean. On 26 September 1837, he was appointed to the 28-gun frigate Tyne, which had been commissioned on 5 September 1837 by Captain John Townshend, and was also serving in Mediterranean. On 28 June 1838 he was promoted to commander.
In April 1839, he completed a book: The Nautical Steam Engine Explained, and Its Powers and Capabilities Described for the Officers of the Navy and Others Interested in the Important Results of Steam Navigation.
On 20 July 1839 he was appointed captain of the 6-gun paddle-sloop Phoenix
HMS Phoenix (1832)
HMS Phoenix was a 6-gun steam paddle vessel of the Royal Navy, built in a dry dock at Chatham in 1832. She was reclassified as a second-class paddle sloop before bring rebuilt as a 10-gun screw sloop in 1844-45...
, serving in the Mediterranean. However the captain of the 4-gun paddle-sloop Hydra
HMS Hydra (1838)
HMS Hydra launched in 1838, at Chatham Dockyard, was a wooden steam paddle sloop of the Royal Navy of 818 tons . She was rated at and carried 6 guns.-Service:...
, Commander Anthony William Milward died, and Robinson was appointed to Hydra (also serving in the Mediterranean). A replacement for Robinson as captain of the Phoenix was appointed on 1 March 1840. Under Robinson Hydra took part in Commodore Charles Napier's attack on Sidon
Sidon
Sidon or Saïda is the third-largest city in Lebanon. It is located in the South Governorate of Lebanon, on the Mediterranean coast, about 40 km north of Tyre and 40 km south of the capital Beirut. In Genesis, Sidon is the son of Canaan the grandson of Noah...
in September 1840. Robinson was promoted to captain on 5 November 1840; a replacement for Robinson as captain of Hydra was appointed on 26 December 1840.
Captain Robinson
In 1847, he wrote "Observations on the Steam Ships of the Royal Navy".On 15 February 1850, Robinson was appointed as captain of the 46-gun screw-frigate Arrogant
HMS Arrogant (1848)
HMS Arrogant was a wood screw frigate of the Royal Navy, launched in 1848 and sold in 1867. During the period of 1848–1850 it was commanded by Robert FitzRoy. On 15 April 1854 the Arrogant was one of a number of Royal Navy ships that captured the Russian brig Patrioten. The Arrogant served...
in the Channel Fleet off Lison, where he replaced Captain Robert Fitzroy. Arrogant paid off at Portsmouth on 26 September 1852.
On 15 June 1854, Robinson commissioned the new 80-gun screw two-decker Colossus
HMS Colossus (1848)
HMS Colossus was a two-deck 80-gun second rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 1 June 1848 at Pembroke Dockyard.Colossus was fitted with screw propulsion in 1864, and was sold out of the navy in 1867....
at Portsmouth. Colossus served on the North America and West Indies station in 1854, and then in 1855 in the Baltic during what is now called the Crimean War
Crimean War
The Crimean War was a conflict fought between the Russian Empire and an alliance of the French Empire, the British Empire, the Ottoman Empire, and the Kingdom of Sardinia. The war was part of a long-running contest between the major European powers for influence over territories of the declining...
. Robinson left Colossus on 24 January 1856.
On 13 February 1856, Robinson was appointed captain of the 102-gun screw three-decker Royal George
HMS Royal George (1827)
HMS Royal George was a 120-gun first rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 22 September 1827 at Chatham.In 1853 she was fitted with screw propulsion. Boilers and engines were placed in space previously used for water tanks. Further space had to be given over to storing coal, which...
, which was one of the ships that transported the British Army back from the Crimea after the conclusion of the campaign there. The Royal George paid off at Sheerness on 28 August 1856.
On 25 August 1856, Robinson was appointed Superintendent of the Steam Reserve at Devonport, flying his flag in the 60-gun screw 'blockship' Ajax
HMS Ajax (1809)
HMS Ajax was a 74-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 2 May 1809 at Blackwall Yard.She was converted to a blockship with screw propulsion for coastal defence in 1846....
. from 1 February 1858 until May 1859, he was captain of the 90-gun screw-two-decker Exmouth
HMS Exmouth (1854)
HMS Exmouth was a 91-gun screw propelled Albion-class second-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy.-Design:Exmouth was ordered as a 90-gun sailing ship from Plymouth Dockyard in 1841, but was ordered to be converted to operate under steam propulsion on 30 October 1852. The conversion began on 20...
guard ship of ordinary
Reserve fleet
A reserve fleet is a collection of naval vessels of all types that are fully equipped for service but are not currently needed, and thus partially or fully decommissioned. A reserve fleet is informally said to be "in mothballs" or "mothballed"; an equivalent expression in unofficial modern U.S....
, Devonport.
Robinson was promoted to rear admiral on 9 June 1860.
Controller
On 7 Feb 1861 Rear Admiral Sir Baldwin Wake WalkerBaldwin Wake Walker
Admiral Sir Baldwin Wake Walker, 1st Baronet KCB was Surveyor of the Navy from 1848 to 1861. and was responsible for the Royal Navy's warship construction programme during the 1850s naval arms race and at the time of the introduction of the Ironclad warship; it was his decision to build HMS...
resigned as Controller of the Navy
Third Sea Lord
The Third Sea Lord and Controller of the Navy was formerly the Naval Lord and member of the Board of Admiralty responsible for procurement and matériel in the British Royal Navy...
. Rear Admiral Robinson was appointed to replace him.
As Controller, "Rear Admiral Robert Spencer Robinson... was an iron-willed administrator for an ironclad age. Bitterly dissatisfied with the private contractors as well as dockyard obfuscation, Robinson steadily applied pressure on the Board for greater control and greater centralisation, not just in the hands of Their Lordships, but more his own. It was the only way to directly insure the work would be completed as required. In the person of Chief Constructor, Edward J. Reed
Edward James Reed
Sir Edward James Reed , KCB, FRS, was a British naval architect, author, politician, and railroad magnate. He was the Chief Constructor of the Royal Navy from 1863 until 1870...
, the Controller was able to combine the new architecture of naval power with its execution.'"
Robinson was promoted to vice admiral on 2 April 1866. He was appointed Knight Commander of the Bath, on the civil list on 7 December 1868, and Fellow of the Royal Society
Royal Society
The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, known simply as the Royal Society, is a learned society for science, and is possibly the oldest such society in existence. Founded in November 1660, it was granted a Royal Charter by King Charles II as the "Royal Society of London"...
on 3 June 1869.
One of the types vessels Robinson had built when he was Controller were "shallow-draft ironclads which were passed off as 'coast defence vessels' but which were... viewed by their designers at the Admiralty as offensive weapons, specifically intended for attacking coastal fortifications and naval arsenals. In urging the construction of several such vessels in 1866, Vice-Admiral Sir Robert Spencer Robinson, stated that they were 'intended either for coast defences, or the attack of shipping in an enemy harbour.'... In short, the Royal Navy developed an alternative strategy to the close blockade, an alternative built round destroying enemy vessels before they could utilize their ability to evade blockaders. The 'coast defence' battleships, along with the gun- and later torpedo boats were, in the words of Lambert
Andrew Lambert
Andrew Lambert BA , MA, PhD, FRHistS is a British naval historian, who is currently Laughton Professor of Naval History in the Department of War Studies at King's College London.-Early life and education:...
, 'the cutting edge of British strategy, their function... to destroy fleets sheltering inside their bases..."
"Throughout the 1860s [Robert] Spencer Robinson consistently rated the British ironclad fleet inferior to its cross-Channel rival, in order to lend weight to his campaigns for enlarged and accelerated shipbuilding programmes. In late 1867, for instance, he wrote that a 'comparison was made between the armoured ships of England and those of France; it was pointed out [in the autumn of 1866] that, on the whole we were manifestly inferior in the number of our ironclads to that Power, taking into account those that were building... The inferiority in the number of ironclad ships, which existed in 1866 still exists in 1867.' [Robert] Spencer Robinson counted thirty-nice English ironclads to forty-six French." "At no time after 1865 was Britain's lead in completed ironclads endangered. [Robert] Spencer Robinson [and his colleagues] Milne
Sir Alexander Milne, 1st Baronet
Admiral of the Fleet Sir Alexander Milne, 1st Baronet, GCB was a Royal Navy admiral, the second son of the Scot Admiral Sir David Milne, and the younger brother of the advocate, geologist and meteorologist David Milne-Home.-Naval career:He entered the Royal Naval Academy, 8 February 1817...
and Corry thus serves as wonderful examples of what defence analyst Edward Luttwak
Edward Luttwak
Edward Nicolae Luttwak is an American military strategist and historian who has published works on military strategy, history and international relations.-Biography:...
has termed 'amoral navalism'; professionals agitating for the enlargement of the force at their disposal without regard for either the constraints imposed by politics and foreign policy (or any other factors for that matter), or the actual menace posed by rival forces."
In the 1868 General Election
United Kingdom general election, 1868
The 1868 United Kingdom general election was the first after passage of the Reform Act 1867, which enfranchised many male householders, thus greatly increasing the number of men who could vote in elections in the United Kingdom...
. the Liberals
Liberal Party (UK)
The Liberal Party was one of the two major political parties of the United Kingdom during the 19th and early 20th centuries. It was a third party of negligible importance throughout the latter half of the 20th Century, before merging with the Social Democratic Party in 1988 to form the present day...
, won a majority, and William Ewart Gladstone
William Ewart Gladstone
William Ewart Gladstone FRS FSS was a British Liberal statesman. In a career lasting over sixty years, he served as Prime Minister four separate times , more than any other person. Gladstone was also Britain's oldest Prime Minister, 84 years old when he resigned for the last time...
became Prime Minister
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the Head of Her Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom. The Prime Minister and Cabinet are collectively accountable for their policies and actions to the Sovereign, to Parliament, to their political party and...
on 9 December 1868. The custom in those days was for the Board of Admiralty to resign when there was a change of government. On 18 December 1868, Vice-Admiral Robinson was appointed Third Naval Lord. The new First Lord of the Admiralty
Lord Commissioner of the Admiralty
The Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty were the members of the Board of Admiralty, which exercised command over the Royal Navy.Officially known as the Commissioners for Exercising the Office of Lord High Admiral of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland &c. The Lords...
, Hugh Culling Eardley Childers
Hugh Childers
Hugh Culling Eardley Childers was a British and Australian Liberal statesman of the nineteenth century. He is perhaps best known for his reform efforts at the Admiralty and the War Office...
"initiated a determined programme of cost and manpower reductions, fully backed by the Prime Minister, Gladstone described him [Childers] as 'a man likely to scan with a rigid eye the civil expenses of the Naval Service'. He got the naval estimates just below the psychologically important figure of £10,000,000. Childers strengthened his own position as First Lord by reducing the role of the Board of Admiralty to a purely formal one, making meetings rare and short and confining the Naval Lords rigidly to the administrative functions... Initially Childers had the support of the influential Controller of the Navy, Vice-Admiral Sir [Robert] Spencer Robinson."
"In 1870 [Robert] Spencer Robinson counted the British ironclad force at thirty-nice ships, and that of France at forty-one, claiming that France had a superiority of numbers in heavy guns, and concluded that '[a]t this moment an alliance between France and so small a naval power as Holland would turn most seriously the naval preponderance against England...' With all this [the First Naval Lord] [Admiral S.C.] Dacres
Sydney Dacres
Admiral Sir Sydney Colpoys Dacres GCB was an officer of the Royal Navy who saw service during the Crimean War. Born into a substantial naval dynasty during the Napoleonic Wars, he eventually rose to the rank of Admiral and became First Naval Lord.-Family and early life:Dacres was born in 1805,...
cordially concurred, pointing out especially that '[t]there is no doubt that we are outnumbered by some ten vessels of the special service class [i.e. coast and harbour defence vessels] of French ships.'"" After the end of the Franco-Prussian War
Franco-Prussian War
The Franco-Prussian War or Franco-German War, often referred to in France as the 1870 War was a conflict between the Second French Empire and the Kingdom of Prussia. Prussia was aided by the North German Confederation, of which it was a member, and the South German states of Baden, Württemberg and...
and "Robinson's departure from the Admiralty, calmer more balanced heads prevailed, and more rational assessments of the technological disparity between the two battlefleets were soon forthcoming."
When Robinson's subordinate, the Chief Constructor, Edward James Reed
Edward James Reed
Sir Edward James Reed , KCB, FRS, was a British naval architect, author, politician, and railroad magnate. He was the Chief Constructor of the Royal Navy from 1863 until 1870...
resigned in July 1870, Robinson described this as a national disaster.
Robinson's second five-year term as Controller came to an end on 9 February 1871. He was not appointed to a third term because the Prime Minister William Ewart Gladstone
William Ewart Gladstone
William Ewart Gladstone FRS FSS was a British Liberal statesman. In a career lasting over sixty years, he served as Prime Minister four separate times , more than any other person. Gladstone was also Britain's oldest Prime Minister, 84 years old when he resigned for the last time...
decided against it, in the light of the loss of the Captain
HMS Captain (1869)
HMS Captain was an unsuccessful warship built for the Royal Navy due to public pressure. She was a masted turret ship, designed and built by a private contractor against the wishes of the Controller's department...
, for which Robinson was quite unfairly blamed by the First Lord of the Admiralty
Lord Commissioner of the Admiralty
The Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty were the members of the Board of Admiralty, which exercised command over the Royal Navy.Officially known as the Commissioners for Exercising the Office of Lord High Admiral of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland &c. The Lords...
, Hugh Childers
Hugh Childers
Hugh Culling Eardley Childers was a British and Australian Liberal statesman of the nineteenth century. He is perhaps best known for his reform efforts at the Admiralty and the War Office...
. Robinson's replacement as Third Naval Lord and Controller was Captain Robert Hall.
Retirement
Robinson was put on the retirement list on 1 April 1871. He was promoted to Admiral on 14 July 1871.In 1871 he wrote "Results of Admiralty Organisation as Established by Sir James Graham and Mr Childers".
The New York Times published the following on 13 September 1871: "The entire ship-building interest of Hull, England, is reported to have been purchased by a Company, of who the leading officers are Vice-Admiral Robert Spencer Robinson and Naval Constructor Reid [sic]."
In 1873 he stood as independent Liberal critic of Gladstone's naval policy at the Hull by-election, without success.