Thomas (Robinson), 1st Baron Grantham

1695 - 1770  (75 years)

• Name	Thomas (Robinson)  [1]
  Suffix	1st Baron Grantham
  Born	24 April 1695	York, Yorkshire, England   [1]
  Christened	24 April 1695	St. Michael le Belfrey, York, Yorkshire, England   [1]
  Gender	Male
  Education	Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, England   [1]
  	Trinity College, Cambridge
  Education	Westminster, Middlesex, England   [1]
  	Westminster School
  Degree	1715  [1]
  	Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) (Cantab.)
  Degree	1719  [1]
  	Master of Arts (M.A.) (Cantab.)
  Office	From 1723 to 1730	Paris, France   [1]
  	Secretary of the Embassy
  Office	From 1727 to 1734  [1]
  	Member of Parliament (M.P.) for Thirsk
  	Whig [1]
  Office	From 1730 to 1748  [1]
  	Envoy to Vienna
  Decoration	26 June 1742  [1]
  	Knight of the Order of the Bath (K.B.)
  	He was invested at Vienna. [1]
  Office	From 1748 to 1749  [1]
  	Junior Lord of Trade
  Office	From 1748 to 1761  [1]
  	Member of Parliament (M.P.) for Christchurch
  Office	From 1749 to 1754  [1]
  	Master of the Wardrobe
  Decoration	29 March 1750  [1]
  	Privy Counsellor (P.C.)
  Office	From March 1754 to Nov. 1755  [1]
  	Secretary of State for the South
  	"He, in 1754, and in a greater degree Murray (afterwards Lord Mansfield), appear to have been the principal stay of the Newcastle Ministry, but Robinson was without Parliamentary influence, and unable to bear up against the struggle for power which ensued at that epoch. "By meer chance made Secretary of State, by meer chance brought out of it with a pension, which his family wanted and greater than he could have hoped or indeed did ask for; by meer chance made a peer. He wanted all this luck, for he was a very dull man, and from a great peculiarity of voice, gesture, diction, worse than a bad speaker, much worse than a silent man in Parliament. I should not do him justice if I did not mention (though it had no hand in his preferment) that he was a very honest and good natured man." (Lord Holland's Memoir.) "Though a good Secretary of State as far as the business of his office and that which related to foreign affairs, he was ignorant even of the language of a House of Commons controversy, and when he played the orator, which he too frequently attempted, it was so exceedingly ridiculous that those who loved and esteemed him could not always preserve a friendly composure of countenance." (Lord Waldegrave.) "He was a large, unwieldy man, and would in debate put his arms straight out, which made George Selwyn compare him to a signpost." (Colebrook, volume i, page 18.)" (Vicary Gibbs.) [2]
  Office	From 1755 to 1760  [1]
  	Master of the Wardrobe
  Office	From April 1755 to Sept. 1755  [2]
  	Lord Justice (Regent) of the Realm
  Hereditary Title	From 7 April 1761 to 30 Sept. 1770  [3]
  	1st Baron Grantham, of Grantham, co. Lincoln [G.B., 1761]
  	"As a peer he protested against the denial of privilege in the Wilkes case in 1763, and was a member of Rockingham's first administration, retiring with him in 1766." (Vicary Gibbs.) [1]
  Office	From 1765 to 1766  [3]
  	Joint Postmaster General
  Will	7 June 1769  [3]
  Died	30 Sept. 1770  [3]
  Buried	6 Oct. 1770	Chiswick, Middlesex, England   [3]
  Probate	12 Dec. 1770  [3]
  Person ID	I2793	British Peerage & Gentry
  Last Modified	12 Feb. 2022

  
  

  Father	Sir William Robinson, 1st Baronet,   b. 1655
  Mother	Mary Aislabie
  Family ID	F1384	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

  Family	Frances Worsley,   b. 1716,   bur. 6 Nov. 1750, Chiswick, Middlesex, England  (Age ~ 34 years)
  Married	13 July 1737	Hovingham, Yorkshire, England   [3]
  Children	+ 1. Thomas (Robinson), 2nd Baron Grantham,   b. 30 Nov. 1738, Vienna, Austria ,   d. 20 July 1786, Grantham House, Putney Heath, Surrey, England  (Age 47 years) + 2. Hon. Theresa Robinson,   b. 1 Jan. 1744/45, Vienna, Austria ,   d. 21 Dec. 1775  (Age 30 years)   3. Hon. Frederick Robinson,   b. 11 Oct. 1746,   d. 28 Dec. 1792  (Age 46 years)
  Last Modified	11 Feb. 2022
  Family ID	F1388	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

• Heraldry

  Arms of Robinson, of Newby, co. York (Baron Grantham, Baron Lucas of Crudwell, Viscount Goderich, Earl de Grey, Earl of Ripon, Marquess of Ripon) Vert a chevron between three bucks [standing] at gaze Or. Crest (1st Earl of Ripon): Out of a coronet composed of fleurs-de-lis a buck at gaze Or. Supporters (1st Earl of Ripon): On either side a wivern Or, gorged with a collar barry of three, the middle Argent the others Azure. Motto (1st Earl of Ripon): Foi est tout. Crest (1st Marquess of Ripon): Out of a coronet composed of fleurs-de-lis Or, a mount vert, thereon a stag at gaze of the first. Supporters (1st Marquess of Ripon): On either side a greyhound reguardant Sable. Motto (1st Marquess of Ripon): Qualis ab incepto. Source: Burke's General Armory (London: Harrison, 1884), page 861.

  
  

• Sources

  [S22] The Complete Peerage, G. E. Cokayne, with Vicary Gibbs, H.A. Doubleday, Geoffrey H. White, Duncan Warrand and Lord Howard de Walden (eds.), (Alan Sutton Publishing, 1910–59; reprint in 6 volumes, Gloucester, 2000), volume VI, page 82. [S22] The Complete Peerage, G. E. Cokayne, with Vicary Gibbs, H.A. Doubleday, Geoffrey H. White, Duncan Warrand and Lord Howard de Walden (eds.), (Alan Sutton Publishing, 1910–59; reprint in 6 volumes, Gloucester, 2000), volume VI, pages 82–83. [S22] The Complete Peerage, G. E. Cokayne, with Vicary Gibbs, H.A. Doubleday, Geoffrey H. White, Duncan Warrand and Lord Howard de Walden (eds.), (Alan Sutton Publishing, 1910–59; reprint in 6 volumes, Gloucester, 2000), volume VI, page 83.