The Whiting Society of Ringers - Rev. F. E. Robinson

Francis Edward Robinson was born on 6th January 1833, at Begbroke Manor, the home of his wealthy grandfather, Thomas Robinson, near Kidlington, Oxfordshire. His parents were Rev. Francis Robinson (then Rector of Staughton, Bedfordshire) and his wife Sophia Elizabeth (née Rowden). He was baptised at Begbroke on 6th February 1833.

His grandfather was a partner in Fletcher, Parsons, Thomson & Robinson, Bankers, who traded from the “Old Bank” premises in High Street, Oxford, later taken over by Barclays Bank, and now (2019) an hotel. Neither of Thomas's sons, Francis Edward’s father and uncle, had followed him into banking; both had gone into the church.

Edward (he used his second Christian name) grew up at Stonesfield, near Woodstock, Oxfordshire, where his father had become Rector when he was only a year old. He was educated at Winchester College and Exeter College Oxford, graduating in mathematics in 1853. Unlike his father, he showed an interest in banking and, probably in deference to his (by then) late grandfather, he was fixed up with a clerical job in the Oxford Old Bank by John Parsons, the senior partner.

The Old Bank ledgers for that period have remarkably survived, now in the custody of Barclays Group Archives. They show he was initially paid a salary of £100 quarterly, or £400 a year: not bad for a graduate entrant with no experience in those days! Notwithstanding the family connection, he must have showed promise as a banker, as he was admitted as a junior partner in the firm in 1857.

He appears to have learned to ring whilst an undergraduate at Oxford, but made slow progress with change ringing until he got involved with the Appleton ringers a few years later. He rang his first peal, Grandsire Triples at Appleton, on 13th October 1859, conducted by Henry White. In 1861 he provided most of the funding for the present bells 9 and 10 augmenting the ring at Appleton from eight bells to ten.

On 21st November 1861, he married Henrietta Barter, a clergyman’s daughter, at Churchill. They moved into Woodbourne House, Tubney, and their daughter, Grace, was born a year later. On 18th October 1863, Henrietta died from "haemorrhage during childbirth", which, as there was no corresponding birth registered, we presume was a stillbirth. She was just 29 years old.

From the "Oxford Journal and Reading Gazette"
of 24th October 1863: notice of the death of
Henrietta Robinson. She was 29 years old.

Edward applied to become a magistrate for the County of Berkshire, and took his oath in January 1864.

Some biographers have made much of entries in the surviving (in the Bodleian Library, Oxford) diaries of the senior partner, John Parsons, to suggest that Edward wasn't very interested in banking, and took a lot of time off to pursue his ringing. Having examined the diaries, we can't go along with this vision of a man taking frequent "sickies" to ring peals.

True, there are typically maybe one or two entries a month through the mid 1860s such as Ed. R. at home, or Ed. R. absent, but they seem to be no more than statements of fact, rather than of irritation. There are no exclamation marks or red ink: no suggestion that the absence was unauthorised or unjustified. Presumably he had some holiday entitlement. Given he was a single parent with a little girl to care for, it's not surprising he needed some time at home. And there is no correlation between the absences and his (at that time) very occasional peal ringing!

Edward found love again, and married Mary Caroline Butler, daughter of the Rector of Appleton, on 4th June 1867, at Bisley, Gloucestershire. His second marriage brought four further daughters and six sons, not all of whom survived into adulthood. Only one of the brood, his youngest daughter, Vera, learned to ring (at Wokingham, after her father's death). Vera rang several peals in the 1920s and 1930s, including Stedman Cinques at Reading in 1931.

Edward had clearly given much thought to the direction his life was taking after some twelve years in the banking business, and decided after all that his grandfather’s footsteps were not the ones he should be following. He resigned his partnership in the Oxford Old Bank; the last year for which he was listed as a partner, in the firm's return under Section XXI of the Bank Charter Act, 1844, was 1867.

Rather he felt the calling to follow belatedly his father’s footsteps into the Anglican ministry. He was ordained deacon on 7th June 1868 at Cuddesdon, and priest on 20th February 1869 at Maidenhead. His first assignment was to be as curate at Tubney.

Newspaper Cutting re Ordination

From the "Reading Mercury" of 27th February
1869 - the account of Robinson's ordination at
Maidenhead by the Bishop of Oxford.

In 1879, he was appointed Vicar of Drayton, Berkshire. The following year he had the bells augmented from six to eight at his own expense, and on 27th May 1880, following a dedication service which he had taken, he became the first clergyman to ring a peal on his own church bells when he conducted 5040 Grandsire Triples. He went on to ring over 100 peals on his own bells: a feat later matched by another clergyman-ringer-author, Rev. W. C. Pearson.

In 1881, he became a founder member of the Oxford Diocesan Guild of Church Bell Ringers. He was elected Master of the guild at its first meeting, and held that position for the rest of his life. When the Central Council of Church Bell Ringers was formed in 1891, Robinson was elected to represent to Oxford Diocesan Guild, and held that office until 1909.

Edward did not become a prolific peal ringer until the arrival of James Washbrook, a superb ringer and conductor, in Oxford, in 1884, at which point he'd rung about 100 peals in over 25 years. Late that same year, he conducted the first peal for Rev. Woolmore Wigram, another ringing author. Under Washbrook's influence his peal ringing escalated to 86 peals in 1888, 85 in 1889, and exceeding 70 peals in several years until the early 1900s.

He thought he rang his 1000th peal - the first ringer to do so - on 9th August 1905, on his own bells at Drayton, conducted by himself. However, later research shows he'd miscalculated, and had in fact already rung his 1000th peal at Northampton a month earlier.

Anyway, the book available for download here, Among the Bells, contains a very full account indeed of the author's peal ringing career, so there is no need to enlarge on that aspect of his life in the biography. It was published in 20 instalments from 1904 to 1909, and then as a complete book in 1909. It focuses almost entirely on his ringing career: an account seemingly of a life of peal tours, all over the country, ringing endless peals of Stedman Triples, mostly conducted by Robinson himself, but often including a local "first in method".

One looks in vain through its pages for any insight into the man. The tragic death of his young wife in childbirth, the decision to forsake his banking career for the ministry, his second marriage and the birth of his many children, all get not a mention.

The book does contain, in its many photographic plates of places the author rang, and people with whom he rang, a very valuable, and almost certainly unique, photographic record of about 400 towers and 35 prominent ringers as they appeared around the turn of the twentieth century.

Robinson suffered a heart attack in June 1908. He made a good recovery, but, advised by his doctors to take things easy, he resigned the living of Drayton in October, and went to live at Fair Home, Crescent Road, Wokingham. He rang several more peals, and wrote, or at least finished off, this book, which includes an account of his illness. His last peal was at Hillingdon, on 15th January 1910.

He died from cerebral haemorrage and heart failure on 16th February 1910, at Fair Home, at the age of 77. His funeral, attended by everyone who was anyone in ringing, and all the local clergy, was held at All Saints' Wokingham. He is buried in the churchyard there. His final peal total is reckoned to be 1256, of which over 900 were of Stedman.

As well as an accomplished change ringer, he was a skillful wood carver. Drayton church still contains some of his work, including the organ case and choir stalls.

It is interesting, if slightly mischievous, to note that, as a Central Council member for the first two decades of it existence, Robinson would have been voting on the vexed issues of what constituted a peal of Minor, and what was a legitimate method. In all his 1256 peals, he rang not one of Minor, such was his interest and expertise in six-bell ringing.

There can be no better illustration of the point made by Karl Grave in Forbidden Methods, that the ridiculous constraints in method choice which the Central Council tried to impose on the working class six bell ringers of the West Riding were the invention of Oxbridge educated gentlemen clergy who had little interest in six-bell ringing, but were arrogant enough to assume they always knew best.

Francis Edward Robinson was born on 6th January 1833, at Begbroke Manor, the home of his wealthy grandfather, Thomas Robinson, near Kidlington, Oxfordshire. His parents were Rev. Francis Robinson (then Rector of Staughton, Bedfordshire) and his wife Sophia Elizabeth (née Rowden). He was baptised at Begbroke on 6th February 1833. His grandfather was a partner in Fletcher, Parsons, Thomson & Robinson, Bankers, who traded from the “Old Bank” premises in High Street, Oxford, later taken over by Barclays Bank, and now (2019) an hotel. Neither of Thomas's sons, Francis Edward’s father and uncle, had followed him into banking; both had gone into the church. Edward (he used his second Christian name) grew up at Stonesfield, near Woodstock, Oxfordshire, where his father had become Rector when he was only a year old. He was educated at Winchester College and Exeter College Oxford, graduating in mathematics in 1853. Unlike his father, he showed an interest in banking and, probably in deference to his (by then) late grandfather, he was fixed up with a clerical job in the Oxford Old Bank by John Parsons, the senior partner. The Old Bank ledgers for that period have remarkably survived, now in the custody of Barclays Group Archives. They show he was initially paid a salary of £100 quarterly, or £400 a year: not bad for a graduate entrant with no experience in those days! Notwithstanding the family connection, he must have showed promise as a banker, as he was admitted as a junior partner in the firm in 1857. He appears to have learned to ring whilst an undergraduate at Oxford, but made slow progress with change ringing until he got involved with the Appleton ringers a few years later. He rang his first peal, Grandsire Triples at Appleton, on 13th October 1859, conducted by Henry White. In 1861 he provided most of the funding for the present bells 9 and 10 augmenting the ring at Appleton from eight bells to ten. On 21st November 1861, he married Henrietta Barter, a clergyman’s daughter, at Churchill. They moved into Woodbourne House, Tubney, and their daughter, Grace, was born a year later. On 18th October 1863, Henrietta died from "haemorrhage during childbirth", which, as there was no corresponding birth registered, we presume was a stillbirth. She was just 29 years old. From the "Oxford Journal and Reading Gazette" of 24th October 1863: notice of the death of Henrietta Robinson. She was 29 years old. Edward applied to become a magistrate for the County of Berkshire, and took his oath in January 1864. Some biographers have made much of entries in the surviving (in the Bodleian Library, Oxford) diaries of the senior partner, John Parsons, to suggest that Edward wasn't very interested in banking, and took a lot of time off to pursue his ringing. Having examined the diaries, we can't go along with this vision of a man taking frequent "sickies" to ring peals. True, there are typically maybe one or two entries a month through the mid 1860s such as Ed. R. at home, or Ed. R. absent, but they seem to be no more than statements of fact, rather than of irritation. There are no exclamation marks or red ink: no suggestion that the absence was unauthorised or unjustified. Presumably he had some holiday entitlement. Given he was a single parent with a little girl to care for, it's not surprising he needed some time at home. And there is no correlation between the absences and his (at that time) very occasional peal ringing! Edward found love again, and married Mary Caroline Butler, daughter of the Rector of Appleton, on 4th June 1867, at Bisley, Gloucestershire. His second marriage brought four further daughters and six sons, not all of whom survived into adulthood. Only one of the brood, his youngest daughter, Vera, learned to ring (at Wokingham, after her father's death). Vera rang several peals in the 1920s and 1930s, including Stedman Cinques at Reading in 1931. Edward had clearly given much thought to the direction his life was taking after some twelve years in the banking business, and decided after all that his grandfather’s footsteps were not the ones he should be following. He resigned his partnership in the Oxford Old Bank; the last year for which he was listed as a partner, in the firm's return under Section XXI of the Bank Charter Act, 1844, was 1867. Rather he felt the calling to follow belatedly his father’s footsteps into the Anglican ministry. He was ordained deacon on 7th June 1868 at Cuddesdon, and priest on 20th February 1869 at Maidenhead. His first assignment was to be as curate at Tubney. From the "Reading Mercury" of 27th February 1869 - the account of Robinson's ordination at Maidenhead by the Bishop of Oxford. In 1879, he was appointed Vicar of Drayton, Berkshire. The following year he had the bells augmented from six to eight at his own expense, and on 27th May 1880, following a dedication service which he had taken, he became the first clergyman to ring a peal on his own church bells when he conducted 5040 Grandsire Triples. He went on to ring over 100 peals on his own bells: a feat later matched by another clergyman-ringer-author, Rev. W. C. Pearson. In 1881, he became a founder member of the Oxford Diocesan Guild of Church Bell Ringers. He was elected Master of the guild at its first meeting, and held that position for the rest of his life. When the Central Council of Church Bell Ringers was formed in 1891, Robinson was elected to represent to Oxford Diocesan Guild, and held that office until 1909. Edward did not become a prolific peal ringer until the arrival of James Washbrook, a superb ringer and conductor, in Oxford, in 1884, at which point he'd rung about 100 peals in over 25 years. Late that same year, he conducted the first peal for Rev. Woolmore Wigram, another ringing author. Under Washbrook's influence his peal ringing escalated to 86 peals in 1888, 85 in 1889, and exceeding 70 peals in several years until the early 1900s. He thought he rang his 1000th peal - the first ringer to do so - on 9th August 1905, on his own bells at Drayton, conducted by himself. However, later research shows he'd miscalculated, and had in fact already rung his 1000th peal at Northampton a month earlier. Anyway, the book available for download here, Among the Bells, contains a very full account indeed of the author's peal ringing career, so there is no need to enlarge on that aspect of his life in the biography. It was published in 20 instalments from 1904 to 1909, and then as a complete book in 1909. It focuses almost entirely on his ringing career: an account seemingly of a life of peal tours, all over the country, ringing endless peals of Stedman Triples, mostly conducted by Robinson himself, but often including a local "first in method". One looks in vain through its pages for any insight into the man. The tragic death of his young wife in childbirth, the decision to forsake his banking career for the ministry, his second marriage and the birth of his many children, all get not a mention. The book does contain, in its many photographic plates of places the author rang, and people with whom he rang, a very valuable, and almost certainly unique, photographic record of about 400 towers and 35 prominent ringers as they appeared around the turn of the twentieth century. Robinson suffered a heart attack in June 1908. He made a good recovery, but, advised by his doctors to take things easy, he resigned the living of Drayton in October, and went to live at Fair Home, Crescent Road, Wokingham. He rang several more peals, and wrote, or at least finished off, this book, which includes an account of his illness. His last peal was at Hillingdon, on 15th January 1910. He died from cerebral haemorrage and heart failure on 16th February 1910, at Fair Home, at the age of 77. His funeral, attended by everyone who was anyone in ringing, and all the local clergy, was held at All Saints' Wokingham. He is buried in the churchyard there. His final peal total is reckoned to be 1256, of which over 900 were of Stedman. As well as an accomplished change ringer, he was a skillful wood carver. Drayton church still contains some of his work, including the organ case and choir stalls. It is interesting, if slightly mischievous, to note that, as a Central Council member for the first two decades of it existence, Robinson would have been voting on the vexed issues of what constituted a peal of Minor, and what was a legitimate method. In all his 1256 peals, he rang not one of Minor, such was his interest and expertise in six-bell ringing. There can be no better illustration of the point made by Karl Grave in Forbidden Methods, that the ridiculous constraints in method choice which the Central Council tried to impose on the working class six bell ringers of the West Riding were the invention of Oxbridge educated gentlemen clergy who had little interest in six-bell ringing, but were arrogant enough to assume they always knew best.		File 01 - Preamble, Introduction, Chapters I, II and III - Pages 1 to 97 (6.9 MB) File 02 - Chapters IV, V, VI and VII - Pages 98 to 202 (7.2 MB) File 03 - Chapters VIII, IX, X, XI, XII and XIII - Pages 203 to 274 (4.6 MB) File 04 - Chapters XIV, XV, XVI and XVII - Pages 275 to 360 (5.3 MB) File 05 - Chapters XVIII, XIX and XX - Pages 361 to 447 (5.8 MB) File 06 - Chapters XXI, XXII and XXIII - Pages 448 to 543 (6.7 MB) File 07 - Chapters XXIV, XXV and XXVI, Postscript, Indices - Pages 544 to 638 (6.7 MB) Back to Old Ringing Books Many ledgers of the Oxford Old Bank have survived in the Barclays Group Archives (the Old Bank was taken over by Barclay & Co, later Barclays Bank Limited, in 1900). They show quarterly payments to Robinson of £100, so it looks like he was on a salary of £400 p.a. during his time as an amployee - by no means penury in the 1850s! (reproduced by kind permission of Barclays Group Archives, Manchester) Robinson started work as a bank clerk in this building in 1853, rising to partner some four years later. The Oxford Old Bank was taken over by Barclays in 1900, remaining a bank branch until the 1990s. It is now (2019) an hotel. The external appearance of the building would have been very similar in Robinson's day. (Photo by Michael Foulds) From the "Oxford Chronicle and Reading Gazette" of 20th February 1858 - Sect. XXI of the Bank Charter Act, 1844, required every firm of bankers to advertise a list of partners names and addresses in a local newspaper at the beginning of each year. This was the first year for which Robinson appeared as a partner, rather than a mere employee. The last occasion on which he was listed as a partner was at the beginning of 1867. From the "Bristol Times and Mirror" of 7th June 1867 - an account of the second marriage of Francis Edward Robinson to Mary Caroline Butler. From the "Bath Chronicle and Gazette" of 1st August 1879 - a report of the appointment of Francis Edward Robinson as Vicar of Drayton From "Church Bells" of 12th June 1880 - an account of the opening of the augmented bells at Drayton Francis Edward Robinson - from the frontispiece of his own book The grave of Francis Edward Robinson in All Saints' Wokingham churchyard - picture by kind permission of John Harrison Back to Old Ringing Books
The 1881 census return for Drayton Vicarage, showing Rev. F. E Robinson in residence with his second wife, Mary, his daughter, Grace, by his first marriage, six of his eventual ten children by his second marriage to Mary, and a modest two domestic staff to take care of them. Crown copyright. Reproduced here under licence number C2009001542. Detail from the Death Certificate of Rev. Francis Edward Robinson. His death on 16th February 1910 was due to cerebral haemorrage and heart failure. Crown copyright. Reproduced here under licence number C2009001542. The assistance of Barclays Group Archive, Manchester; the Bodleian Library, Oxford, and John Harrison of Wokingham, in compiling this biography is gratefully acknowledged Back to Old Ringing Books