Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Robinson, Henry (1553?-1616)
ROBINSON, HENRY (1553?–1616), bishop of Carlisle, a native of Carlisle, was born there probably in 1553 (mon. inscript. in The Hist. and Antiquities of Carlisle, p. 180). He became a tabarder of Queen's College, Oxford, 17 June 1572, and graduated B.A. 12 July 1572, M.A. 20 June 1575, B.D. 10 July 1582, and D.D. 6 July 1590. In 1575 he became fellow of Queen's, and principal of St. Edmund Hall on 9 May 1576 (Gutch; Wood, Hist. and Antiq. of Oxford, p. 664; Foster, Alumni Oxon.; Clark, Oxford Register). In 1580 he was rector of Fairstead in Essex (Foster, Alumni Oxon.) On 5 May 1581 he was elected provost of Queen's, when he resigned the principalship of St. Edmund Hall. He was a self-denying and constitutional provost, restoring to the college certain sources of revenue which previous provosts had converted to their own uses, and the appointment of the chaplains, which previous provosts had usurped. With the assistance of Sir Francis Walsingham, he in 1582 obtained a license in mortmain and indemnity for the college. He also gave to it 300l. for the use of poor young men, besides plate and books. In 1585 he, along with the fellows, preferred a bill in parliament for confirmation of the college charter (State Papers, Dom., Eliz. clxxvi. 17, 28 Jan. 1585). Seven years later, in 1592, on the occasion of the queen's visit to Oxford, he was one of those appointed to see the streets well ordered (Clark, Oxford Register, i. 230). He also served as chaplain to Grindal, who left him the advowson of a prebend in Lichfield or St. Davids (Strype, Grindal, p. 426; Hist. and Antiq. of Carlisle, ubi supra).
Robinson was elected bishop of Carlisle on 27 May 1598, confirmed 22 July, and consecrated the next day. In 1599 he was appointed one of the commissioners for ecclesiastical causes, and subsequently numerous references to him occur in the state papers, as arresting or conferring with catholics in the north of England (see State Papers, Eliz. cclxxiii. 56, 26 Dec. 1599). On 1 Nov. 1601 he was entered a member of Gray's Inn, and two years later took part in the Hampton Court conference (Foster, Registers of Gray's Inn; Barlow, Summe and Substance of the Conference). In 1607 he appears as one of the border commissioners (State Papers, James I, xxvi. 18, 20 Jan. 1607). He preached a sermon on 1 Cor. x. 3 at Greystoke church 13 Aug. 1609, and from that year till his death held the rectory of that parish ‘in commendam’ (Transactions of Cumberland and Westmoreland Antiq. Soc. i. 338, 339). In 1613 he filed a bill in the exchequer court against George Denton of Cardew Hall for refusing all suit to his lordship's courts and mills. By obtaining a decree in his own favour he secured the rights of the see against that mesne manor (Hist. and Antiq. of Carlisle, p. 216). Robinson died of the plague at Rose Castle, 19 June 1616, and was buried the same day in the cathedral. He bequeathed plate and linen to Queen's College, and the college held a special funeral service for him. A brass and inscription were erected by his brother in Carlisle Cathedral. A portrait is in Queen's College common room.
[Information kindly given by the Rev. the Provost of Queen's College, Oxford; Wood's Athenæ Oxon. ii. 857; Hist. and Antiq. of Oxford, p. 16; Granger's Biogr. Dict.; Strype's Whitgift, ii. 115, 405; Grindal, p. 603; Fuller's Church Hist. ii. 294, v. 266, 444; Challoner's Memoirs of Missionary Priests.]