William Robson, Baron Robson

Who was William Robson, Baron Robson?

William Snowdon Robson, Baron Robson GCMG PC was an English lawyer, judge and Liberal politician who sat in the House of Commons in two periods between 1885 and 1910.

Robson was born in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, the son of Robert Robson merchant of Newcastle-on-Tyne and his wife Emily Jane Snowden, daughter of William Snowden of Newcastle-on-Tyne. He was educated at Newcastle and at Caius College, Cambridge. He was called to the Bar in 1880 and became a Queen's Counsel in 1892.

At the 1885 general election Robson was elected Member of Parliament for Bow and Bromley and held the seat until 1886. At the 1895 general election he was elected MP for South Shields and held the seat until 1910. He was Solicitor General for England and Wales from 1905 to 1908, and Attorney General for England and Wales from 1908 to 1910. In 1905, he knighted and was appointed to the Privy Council.

On 7 October 1910, Robson was made a Lord of Appeal in Ordinary and a life peer with the title Baron Robson, of Jesmond in the County of Northumberland. He was appointed a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George in the 1911 New Year Honours in recognition of his services in connection with the North Atlantic Coast Fisheries Arbitration. He resigned as Lord of Appeal two years later.