Robert Robinson

Who was Robert Robinson?

Robert Robinson was an English cricketer who played for Hampshire at the time of the Hambledon Club and also for Surrey.

He was a specialist left-handed batsman noted for powerful hitting to the off side, particularly his mastery of the cut shot.

In John Nyren's The Cricketers of my Time, Robinson is listed among the author's "most eminent players in the Hambledon Club when it was in its glory", but Nyren does not otherwise mention Robinson at all! The period of this list is unquestionably limited to the latter years of Hambledon's existence but it nevertheless indicates the esteem in which Robinson was held as a player.

The earliest biographical information about Robinson is provided by Arthur Haygarth. Haygarth says that Robinson belonged to a farming family and was at one time a gamekeeper.

Robinson's success as a cricketer is the more remarkable because he lost two fingers of his right hand when he was a boy. He had to have special grooves made in his bat handle because of this.

Robinson played for the Players in the inaugural and second Gentlemen v Players matches in 1806.