Christopher Robinson (Irish judge)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Christopher Robinson (1712–1787) was an Irish barrister and judge, who for many years was the senior ordinary judge of the Irish courts of common law. He is best remembered for giving the adventurer Francis Higgins the nickname "The Sham Squire", and for his impressive collection of legal textbooks, which forms the basis of the Library of the King's Inns.[1]
He was born in Dublin, eldest son of Bryan Robinson (1689–1754), Regius Professor of Physic at Trinity College Dublin and President of the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland, and his wife Mary.[2] The Robinson family came originally from Clapham, North Yorkshire. He had two brothers, one of whom, Robert, became a doctor, and like his father was elected President of the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland. Christopher was tutored at home, and matriculated from the University of Dublin in 1729. He entered Lincoln's Inn in 1732, was called to the Bar in 1737, and took silk in 1745.[2] He acted on occasion as an extra judge of assize. Though a man of strong opinions he seems to have had no interest in politics as such, and never sat in the Irish Parliament.[3]
Judge
He was appointed a judge of the Court of King's Bench (Ireland) in 1758 and served on the Court until his death almost thirty years later. His appointment was said to be a reward for writing pamphlets supporting the Government.
His most celebrated trial was that of the notorious confidence trickster Francis Higgins ("the Sham Squire") in 1767 for a serious assault on his mother-in-law, Mrs. Archer. It was Robinson at the trial who first used the sobriquet "Sham Squire", which stuck. Higgins served a prison sentence for the assault, but this was only a brief check to his remarkable career, which saw him becoming an attorney, a justice of the peace and an informer for the Dublin Castle administration.
Robinson was also seneschal of St. Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin.[2]
Family
He married Elizabeth Martin, daughter of the Reverend Hartstonge Martin of Cashel, County Tipperary and his wife Susan Wemyss, in 1758, and had one surviving son, also named Christopher, who became a clergyman, and served as rector of Granard, County Longford. The younger Christopher married Elizabeth Langrishe, daughter of the leading politician Sir Hercules Langrishe, 1st Baronet and his wife Hannah Myhill, and had several children, including Hercules, an Admiral, who was the father of Hercules Robinson, 1st Baron Rosmead , and Sir Bryan Robinson, who was a judge like his grandfather, based in Newfoundland.[4]
