Activities Wise and Otherwise: The Career of Sir Henry Augustus Robinson, 1898-1922

This is the first biography of Sir Henry Augustus Robinson, who, in addition to his duties as a senior civil servant in Dublin’s Custom House between 1898 and 1922, acted as unofficial adviser to British ministers on many of the major political issues of the day. A consummate administrator, Robinson was responsible for a new and democratic local government system and for supervising infrastructural services in Ireland. Yet, in defiance of British civil service protocols, he became a critical figure who had a significant political effect on Ireland’s administration during the crucial years of 1912 to 1922. Comprehensive and detailed, the book uncovers Robinson’s official and unofficial life and work through his role in the Home Rule controversy, the conscription crisis, and the evolving reality of partition. Emerging as a man who loved Ireland and described as a ‘reforming Unionist, ’ Sir Henry Augustus Robinson was a man with a high sense of duty, allied to a progressive optimism about Ireland’s destiny. This remarkable biography brings Robinson to the fore in a time of momentous events and issues in the last pre-Independence decade.[ Subject: Biography, Irish Studies, Political History