In 1911 The Robinson Institute was built by a successful businessman, Thomas
Robinson, to celebrate the Coronation of King George V. The inscription over the
door reads:
"The Robinson Institute, Presented to
the People of Glaisdale by the late
Thos Robinson Esq JP (The Gables)
to Commemorate the Coronation of
King George V 1911."
In January 1913 The Institute was
handed over to the Trustees of the
Institute from the Trustees of the Will of
Thomas Robinson Esq, deceased, and his
son Thomas Alexander Robinson Esq to
hold in trust ‘for ever’:
(a) As a Reading Room and Library
(b) For any Meetings or Lectures or
other objects, ends or purposes
having in view the intellectual
moral or social wants of the people
living in the said Township of
Glaisdale which the Trustees may
think desirable…
… subject to such Rules and
Regulations for the management
and government of the Institute as
shall from time to time be framed by
the Trustees.
Rules governing the use of the Robinson
Institute are little changed since the early
days.
Thomas Alexander Robinson (1830 - 1912) Originally from Houghton le Spring, Co. Durham, Thomas
Robinson was the son of a blacksmith. He worked as a clerk to a
coalmine company owner, a role which took him to Europe where
he saw an opportunity to import cheap fresh eggs to England to
feed the growing masses in the industrial towns of the 1860s.
Later he set up a shipping company in West Hartlepool, which
moved to the deeper port of Hull around 1901 and was known as
Thomas Robinson & Sons Co. Ltd.
In c.1904 Mr Robinson
purchased land in Glaisdale and built The Gables, a prominent
brick house on the hillside above the old site of the Glaisdale Iron
Works, which had closed 25 years previously. He lived there with
his daughter, Esther Isabella, and niece, Annie Greenhalgh, and in 1911 built ‘The Robinson
Institute’.
Thomas Robinson’s Will provided for the Institute to be held in trust for the
benefit of the people of Glaisdale. It also allowed for his daughter and niece to continue
living at The Gables after his death for their lifetimes, the house to be divided into two if
necessary, but for each ‘at all reasonable time have access to his autopiano and organ’; the
ownership of the house was bestowed on his son Thomas Alexander Robinson (d. 13
January 1920), who lived at Ferriby House, North Ferriby, on the Humber.
Esther Isabella
Robinson (Spinster) died at the The Gables, Glaisdale, on 16 January 1936. Annie
Greenhalgh, Thomas Robinson’s niece, moved away to Lancashire by the 1940s.
The Robinson shipping firm made heavy losses during the World Wars, when egg
supplies from occupied Europe dried up. The company ceased around 1963.
Tom Robinson, great-great-grandson of the original benefactor, remembers family
holidays during the 1950s and 60s at Millers Wood, when it was owned by members of
his family.
The Original Trustees listed in the 1913
Conveyance:
Thomas Alexander Robinson
Esther Isabella Robinson – Spinster
Annie Greenhalgh – Spinster
Charles Smith – Auctioneer
Henry Hope – Gardener
James Richmond – Grocer
Alfred Thompson – Water Bailiff
William Ernest Mackridge – Grocer (a Great
Uncle of William & Tom Lister, Glaisdale)
John Yeoman – Farmer
Frederick Augustus Matthew Edward
David Harrison – Postmaster
Robert Thompson – Farmer
Richard Clark Wakefield – Farmer
William Dale Brown – Farmer
William Lister – Farmer (a Great Uncle
of William & Tom Lister, Glaisdale)
Edwin Atkinson – Butcher
(Up until 2001, the Trustees were appointed
for life.)
Copyright © Valley News, July 2011 issue, published by
www.basementpress.com 
Thomas Alexander Robinson (1830 - 1912) Originally from Houghton le Spring, Co. Durham, Thomas
Robinson was the son of a blacksmith. He worked as a clerk to a
coalmine company owner, a role which took him to Europe where
he saw an opportunity to import cheap fresh eggs to England to
feed the growing masses in the industrial towns of the 1860s.
Later he set up a shipping company in West Hartlepool, which
moved to the deeper port of Hull around 1901 and was known as
Thomas Robinson & Sons Co. Ltd. 
