After he qualified he travelled to Canada and during World War I he enlisted in the 19th Alberta Dragoons as a private and was commissioned to the Royal Marine Artillery.[1] He had a distinguished military career and was awarded the Distinguished Service Order by the British Government and the Croix de Guerre.[1] He had lost an eye and was badly wounded in both legs during his years at the front.[2]
Robinson took an active part in the War of Independence in Wicklow. He opposed the Anglo-Irish Treaty and fought on the Republican side in the Civil War.[1] He was present in Annamoe, County Wicklow when his cousin, Erskine, was arrested by Free State Troops and taken to Dublin which would result in his court-martial and execution.[4] Robinson was himself arrested in 1922 and spent forty days on hunger strike during his eighteen months' internment in Mountjoy jail.[2]
Political career
He was one of seven successful Fianna Fáil candidates who secured election to the Free State Seanad at the 1931 Seanad election, securing a nine-year term.[5] Robinson became Leas-Chathaoirleach of the Seanad on 24 February 1936, after the resignation of Michael Comyn. He remained a member of the Seanad until its abolition in 1936. In 1938 he was nominated by TaoiseachÉamon de Valera to the newly formed Seanad Éireann. He was nominated again to the 3rd Seanad but did not seek re-election in 1943.[6] He was also the Secretary of the Irish Red Cross Society when it was inaugurated.
He never married, and died at Delgany, County Wicklow at the age of 61.[1]
