Crescens James Robinson (21 May 1864 – 8 June 1941) played

first-class cricket First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is of three or more days scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officially adju ...

for

Somerset Somerset ( , ), Archaism, archaically Somersetshire ( , , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel, Gloucestershire, and Bristol to the north, Wiltshire to the east ...

in 31 matches from 1885 to 1896. He was born in

Gloucester Gloucester ( ) is a cathedral city, non-metropolitan district and the county town of Gloucestershire in the South West England, South West of England. Gloucester lies on the River Severn, between the Cotswolds to the east and the Forest of Dean ...

and died at Chelsea in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

Family and background

Robinson was a member of an entrepreneurial family who had interests in paper-making and printing in

Bristol Bristol () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, the most populous city in the region. Built around the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, it is bordered by t ...

and London and in a wide range of goods in

Singapore Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...

. The family company of E. S. & A. Robinson owned a large printing and paper-bag manufacturing site at Bedminster in Bristol. Crescens Robinson's unusual name was a family name: his uncle Crescens had a firm called "Crescens Robinson & Co" in

Islington Islington ( ) is an inner-city area of north London, England, within the wider London Borough of Islington. It is a mainly residential district of Inner London, extending from Islington's #Islington High Street, High Street to Highbury Fields ...

, London, which acted as an agent for his uncle Philip who was the founder of

Robinson & Co Robinsons Department Stores Online Pte Ltd (formerly known as Robinsons & Co. Pte Ltd) is an online retail company based in Singapore. The company owned Robinsons department stores in Singapore and Malaysia, which closed in 2021. It also oper ...

in Singapore and later became a lithographic printing company which specialised in fine printing of posters, with London Transport among its customers. The extensive Robinson family had estates at

Flax Bourton Flax Bourton is a village and civil parish in Somerset, England. The parish, with a population of 715, is situated within the unitary authority of North Somerset, on the edge of Nailsea Moor on the A370 road south west of Bristol city centre. ...

and

Backwell Backwell is a village and civil parish in the unitary authority area of North Somerset, in the ceremonial county of Somerset, England. In 2011 it had a population of 4,589. The village lies about southwest of Bristol, south of the A370 to West ...

, near

Nailsea Nailsea is a town in North Somerset, England, southwest of Bristol, and northeast of Weston-super-Mare. The nearest village is Backwell, which lies south of Nailsea on the opposite side of the Bristol to Exeter railway line. Nailsea had a po ...

, south of Bristol, and in 1879 Crescens was part of a team of "Eleven Robinsons" that played a match against the Backwell Cricket Club at the Flax Bourton ground. This event was repeated in various forms until 1964 and included a match against an all Grace team in 1891. The Eleven Robinsons consisted of Crescens and five of his brothers, augmented by five cousins, all descended from Edward Robinson and directly related to

Elisha Smith Robinson Elisha Smith Robinson (1817–1885) was an English businessman and politician. Early life and business career Robinson was born in 1817 in Overbury, on the Worcestershire-Gloucestershire borders where his father Edward Robinson, a paper maker, ...

, Crescens' most prosperous uncle. Apart from Crescens, two others of the Robinson Eleven graduated to first-class cricket: cousin Arthur played three matches for

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( , ; abbreviated Glos.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by Herefordshire to the north-west, Worcestershire to the north, Warwickshire to the north-east, Oxfordshire ...

, while Crescens' brother

Theodore Theodore may refer to: Places * Theodore, Australian Capital Territory, Australia * Theodore, Queensland, Australia * Theodore, Saskatchewan, Canada * Theodore, Alabama, United States * Theodore Reservoir, in Saskatchewan People * Theodore (gi ...

also played a few times for Somerset.

Cricket career

Crescens Robinson made his first-class debut for Somerset in a crushing defeat by

Surrey Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...

towards the end of the 1885 season, after which Somerset lost its first-class cricket status for five seasons. Robinson, a right-handed middle- or lower-order batsman, played during the years of second-class cricket from 1886 to the triumphs of 1890, when a winning streak in matches against leading teams opened up a new set of fixtures for Somerset of sufficient depth to enable the county to qualify for first-class status again. Robinson was then a regular member of the teams in both 1891 and 1892, though he was scarcely prolific. Played only as a batsman, he made only one score of more than 50 in the two seasons, an innings of 55 made batting at No 9 in the match against

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

in July 1891. Robinson did not play first-class cricket after the 1892 season until he reappeared in two Somerset matches in 1896, but he made little impact in those, and they were the final games of his cricket career.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Robinson, Crescens 1864 births 1941 deaths English cricketers Somerset cricketers Cricketers from Gloucester