H. Russell Robinson

Last updated

Henry Russell Robinson (7 May 1920, Hackney, London - 15 January 1978) [1] was a British military armourer and historian.

He served in the RAF during the Second World War making models interpreting aerial photographs. This was when he met Sir James Mann, Master of the Armouries at the Tower of London. Robinson joined the staff of the Tower Armouries in 1946 as a Temporary Assistant, before rising to Assistant Keeper and finally, in 1970, Keeper of Armour.[ citation needed ]

Robinson was a founder member and president of the Arms and Armour Society. In 1965, he was elected a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London. In 1977, he was awarded an honorary MA by the University of Newcastle upon Tyne. [2]

Between 1967 and 1969, he (a practical armourer) worked with Charles Daniels to interpret and reconstruct the Roman armour nowadays known as 'lorica segmentata'. He produced a series of reconstructions of the two sub-types of armour from the Roman site at Corbridge and one from Newstead in time for them to be exhibited at the 1969 Congress of Roman Frontier Studies held in Cardiff. [3]

His work on the armour featured in one of his best-known books, The Armour of Imperial Rome. Published in 1975 by Lionel Leventhal at the Arms and Armour Press, it included line illustrations by his friend, Peter Connolly. Robinson's system of categorizing Roman helmets has been widely adopted in the UK and USA but never really found favour in Europe. [4]

Robinson was not only known for Roman armour, since he worked on an exhibition of Japanese armour at the Tower Armouries and subsequently wrote two books on the subject. [5] He was also an authority on Native American artefacts and was responsible for the production of the replica of the revised reconstruction of the Sutton Hoo Helmet [2] and wrote a guide to the Stibbert Museum. [6]

In 1978 he teamed up with Ronald Embleton to produce an illustrated booklet entitled What the Soldiers Wore on Hadrian's Wall for the Newcastle upon Tyne publisher Frank Graham. A second, posthumous, volume by the pair appeared in 1980 from the same publisher and was entitled The Armour of the Roman Legions. [7]

Robinson was married with two daughters. He died in Guy's Hospital on 15 January 1978, aged 57. [2]

Notes

  1. ↑ "Children of Henry Russell Robinson 1920-1978" . Retrieved 30 December 2022.
  2. 1 2 3 Obituary, The Times, 18 January 1978.
  3. ↑ Daniels in Allason-Jones and Bishop 1988, pp. 97–100
  4. ↑ Fischer 2014, 139–40.
  5. ↑ Robinson 1965; 1967
  6. ↑ Robinson 1973
  7. ↑ Robinson and Embleton 1978; 1980

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stanegate</span> Roman road that ran from Carlisle to Corbridge, England

The Stanegate was an important Roman road built in what is now northern England. It linked many forts including two that guarded important river crossings: Corstopitum (Corbridge) on the River Tyne in the east, and situated on Dere Street, and Luguvalium (Carlisle) on the River Eden in the west. The Stanegate ran through the natural gap formed by the valleys of the River Tyne in Northumberland and the River Irthing in Cumbria. It predated Hadrian's Wall by several decades; the Wall would later follow a similar route, albeit slightly to the north.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Corbridge</span> Human settlement in England

Corbridge is a village in Northumberland, England, 16 miles (26 km) west of Newcastle and 4 miles (6 km) east of Hexham. Villages nearby include Halton, Acomb, Aydon and Sandhoe.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hexham</span> Human settlement in England

Hexham is a market town and civil parish in Northumberland, England, on the south bank of the River Tyne, formed by the confluence of the North Tyne and the South Tyne at Warden nearby, and close to Hadrian's Wall. Hexham was the administrative centre for the Tynedale district from 1974 to 2009. In 2011, it had a population of 13,097.

Ronald Sydney Embleton was a British illustrator who gained fame as a comics artist. In the 1950s and 1960s, Embleton also pursued a career as an oil painter, and he exhibited his works widely in Britain, Germany, Australia, Canada and the USA. He was a member of the London Sketch Club and the National Society of Painters, Sculptors and Printmakers, and in 1960 was elected a member of the Royal Institute of Oil Painters.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pons Aelius</span> Roman settlement in northern England

Pons Aelius, or Newcastle Roman Fort, was an auxiliary castra and small Roman settlement on Hadrian's Wall in the Roman province of Britannia Inferior, situated on the north bank of the River Tyne close to the centre of present-day Newcastle upon Tyne, and occupied between the 2nd and 4th centuries AD.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Corbridge Hoard</span>

The Corbridge Hoard is a hoard of mostly iron artefacts that was excavated in 1964 within the Roman site of Coria, next to what is now Corbridge, Northumberland, England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Coria (Corbridge)</span> Roman fort in Corbridge, England

Coria was a fort and town 2.5 miles (4.0 km) south of Hadrian's Wall, in the Roman province of Britannia at a point where a big Roman north–south road bridged the River Tyne and met another Roman road (Stanegate), which ran east–west between Coria and Luguvalium in the Solway Plain. The full Latin name is uncertain. In English, it is known as Corchester or Corbridge Roman Site as it sits on the edge of the village of Corbridge in the English county of Northumberland. It is in the guardianship of English Heritage and is partially exposed as a visitor attraction, including a site museum.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Milecastle 3</span>

Milecastle 3 (Ouseburn) was a milecastle of the Roman Hadrian's Wall. No remains exist, but it was thought to have been located at the junction of the A187 Byker Bridge and Stephen Street.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Milecastle 0</span>

Milecastle 0 is a possible milecastle of the Roman Hadrian's Wall which may have preexisted the fort of Segedunum. Although its existence has been suggested by historian Peter Hill, no evidence of this milecastle has been found. It is not known whether the decision to establish forts on the line of the wall predated the decision to extend the wall to Wallsend, so it is possible that this milecastle was never built.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aballava</span> Roman fort in Cumbria, England

Aballava or Aballaba was a Roman fort on Hadrian's Wall, between Petriana (Stanwix) to the east and Coggabata (Drumburgh) to the west. It is about one and a half miles south of the Solway Firth, and its purpose was to guard the south end of two important Solway fords, the Peat Wath and the Sandwath, which were also to become favourite routes for medieval border raiders.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hadrian's Wall</span> Defensive fortification in Roman Britain

Hadrian's Wall, also known as the Roman Wall, Picts' Wall, or Vallum Hadriani in Latin, is a former defensive fortification of the Roman province of Britannia, begun in AD 122 in the reign of the Emperor Hadrian. Running from Wallsend on the River Tyne in the east to Bowness-on-Solway in the west of what is now northern England, it was a stone wall with large ditches in front of it and behind it that crossed the whole width of the island. Soldiers were garrisoned along the line of the wall in large forts, smaller milecastles and intervening turrets. In addition to the wall's defensive military role, its gates may have been customs posts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Leahill Turret, Hadrian's Wall</span> Part of Hadrians Wall

Leahill Turret is a typical example of one of the lookout towers located between the milecastles on Hadrian's Wall in Cumbria; located on the Lanercost Road near Banks, Parish of Waterhead. It is designated turret 51b and lies east of the Signal Tower at Pike Hill.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pike Hill Signal Tower</span>

Pike Hill Signal Tower was one of a number of signal stations that were built on high ground overlooking the line of the Roman Stanegate road in northern Britannia during the early 2nd century. It later became incorporated into Hadrian's Wall. Its remains, a 2-metre long fragment of the south-east wall, lie south of a modern road cutting and field wall, and are located in the parish of Waterhead in Cumbria, United Kingdom. The tower is located between Turret 51B and Turret 52A with the fort of Banna located to the east.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Portgate</span>

The Portgate was a fortified gateway, constructed as part of Hadrian's Wall where it crossed the Roman road now known as Dere Street, which preceded Hadrian's Wall by around 50 years. It was built to control traffic along Dere Street as it passed north through Hadrian's Wall. The gate's remains exist beneath the old B6318 Military Road to the south-west of the Stagshaw Roundabout.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle upon Tyne</span>

The Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle upon Tyne, the oldest provincial antiquarian society in England, was founded in 1813. It is a registered charity under English law.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Milecastle 29</span>

Milecastle 29 (Tower Tye) was a milecastle of the Roman Hadrian's Wall. Its remains exist as a mutilated earth platform accentuated by deep robber-trenches around all sides, and are located beside the B6318 Military Road. Like Milecastles 9, 23, 25, and 51, a ditch has been identified around the Milecastle, and is still visible to a small extent. It has been postulated that this was as a result of the need for drainage on the site.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brian Dobson (archaeologist)</span> English archaeologist (1931–2012)

Brian Dobson was an English archaeologist, teacher and scholar. His specialisms were Hadrian's Wall and the Roman Army. He studied under Eric Birley and is a member of the so-called 'Durham School' of archaeology. He was a Reader Emeritus of Durham University.

David John Breeze, OBE, FSA, FRSE, HonFSAScot, Hon MIFA is a British archaeologist, teacher and scholar of Hadrian's Wall, the Antonine Wall and the Roman army. He studied under Eric Birley and is a member of the so-called "Durham School" of archaeology. He was a close friend and colleague of the late Dr Brian Dobson.

Lindsay Allason-Jones, is a British archaeologist and museum professional specialising in Roman material culture, Hadrian's Wall, Roman Britain, and the presence and role of women in the Roman Empire. She is currently a visiting fellow at Newcastle University.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Horned helmet of Henry VIII</span> 1514 metal helmet by Seusenhofer

The horned helmet of Henry VIII is the surviving part of a full suit of armour made by Konrad Seusenhofer between 1511 and 1514. The armour was a gift from the Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I to the English king Henry VIII, following their alliance in the War of the League of Cambrai. The suit was elaborate and intended for display at tournament parades. It is unclear who was the intended wearer of the armour, but it appears to have been modelled on one of Henry's court fools. Henry may have worn the armour as a jest. The helmet has protruding eyes and a toothy grimace and is adorned with horns and spectacles. The helmet survived when the rest of the suit of armour was scrapped, probably after the English Civil War, and it is now in the collection of the Royal Armouries Museum in Leeds, which formerly used it as a symbol of the museum.

References

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.