The significant Great War Battle of Jutland, inter-war Invergordon Mutiny 1931 battlecruiser Hood Patrol Officer, and Second World War London Blitz 10 May 1941 casualty group awarded to Commander L.E.G. Robinson, Royal Navy. As a Midshipman, Robinson was aboard Vice Admiral David Beatty flagship, the battlecruiser Lion, at the Battle of Jutland on 31 May 1916, on which occasion a member of the crew, Royal Marine Major Francis Harvey, a turret commander, won a posthumous Victoria Cross for having ordered the magazine flooded to prevent an explosion caused by a propellant fire in one of the turrets. Robinson was subsequently present aboard the destroyer Violent when she escorted and participated in history′s first attack by aircraft launched from the flight deck of an aircraft carrier in July 1918. It was however as a Lieutenant Commander and Observer Officer aboard the battlecruiser Hood on the 15th to 16h September 1931 that Robinson has his greatest claim to fame, he having played a significant role in quelling the Mutiny when assigned from Hood as the Officer of the Patrol to pacify the disturbance. Robinson was subsequently recalled for the Second World War, only to be killed on the night of 10th to 11th May 1941 during the most devastating and last of the major raids of the Luftwaffe’s London Blitz.
Group of 5: 1914-1915 Star; (MID. L.G.E. ROBINSON, R.N.); British War Medal and Victory Medal; (S.LT. L.E.G. ROBINSON. R.N.); Defence Medal; War Medal 1939-1945.
Condition: Good Very Fine.
Ludovick Gordon Edmund Robinson was born on 17 September 1899 at The Rectory, Richmond, North Riding, Yorkshire, the son of the Reverend Canon Ludovick Stewart Robinson M.A., of Great Shelford, Cambridgeshire and of Southcliffe School in Filey.
Robinson entered the Royal Navy in September 1912 as a Cadet with the Royal Naval College at Osborne, and in completion of his training passed out as a Midshipman on 30 June 1915, being appointed to the battlecruiser Lion from 1 July 1915. He would remain aboard her until October 1917, and as such he was present at the Battle of Jutland on 31 May 1916.
Lion was the flagship of the battlecruisers during the war, except when she was being refitted or under repair, she being the flagship of Vice Admiral David Beatty. At the Battle of Jutland on 31st May 1916, Lion suffered a serious propellant fire that could have destroyed the ship had it not been for the bravery of Royal Marine Major Francis Harvey, the turret commander, who posthumously received the Victoria Cross for having ordered the magazine flooded. The fire destroyed one gun turret which had to be removed for rebuilding while she was under repair for several months. She spent the rest of the war on uneventful patrols in the North Sea.
Whilst aboard Lion, Robinson had been appointed an Acting Sub Lieutenant on 18 September 1917, and he was then sent off to Victory in order to attend a Torpedo Officers Course with Vernon from 29 October 1917, before being posted to the destroyer depot ship Woolwich for service aboard the destroyer Violent from November 1917. At the time this vessel was still undergoing her commissioning, and as such he formed part of her first complement on her being completed for service on 20 November 1917. She was assigned to the 13th Destroyer Flotilla with the Grand Fleet and Robinson would spend the rest of the war aboard her, being confirmed in the rank and promoted to Sub Lieutenant on 15 May 1918.
On 19 July 1918, Violent participated in history′s first attack by aircraft launched from the flight deck of an aircraft carrier, when she operated in the North Sea in support of a strike by Royal Air Force Sopwith 2F J Camel fighters from the aircraft carrier Furious against the Imperial German Navy Zeppelin dirigible sheds at Tondern, Germany (today Tønder, Denmark) in what became known as the Tondern Raid. Returning from the strike, Camel pilot Captain William F. Dickson, who had decided he would not be able to return to Furious, sighted Violent – the first British warship he encountered during his return flight – and circled her before ditching his aircraft in the sea. Violent recovered him, and he went on to become a Marshal of the Royal Air Force, Chief of the Air Staff, and Chief of the Defence Staff.
Robinson was posted to attend a course at Cambridge University from 11 October 1919, this being for further promotion, and he was an Acting Lieutenant from 15 May 1920, being then posted aboard the destroyer Valhalla from 4 September 1920 when employed as a signals officer, and saw service as part of the 6th Destroyer Flotilla with the Atlantic Fleet.
He was then serving aboard the battleship Barham from May 1921 as the Flag Lieutenant to Vice Admiral Nicholson when he was confirmed in his promotion to Lieutenant, his seniority being backdated to 18 October 1919. Robinson remained a Flag Lieutenant aboard the destroyer Valorous from November 1921 to October 1923, he being the signals officer to the officer commanding the 4th Destroyer Flotilla and subsequently from February 1923, the 2nd Destroyer Flotilla. Robinson was then posted ashore to Vivid to attend a Gunnery Course from 29 October 1923, and was then posted to the aircraft carrier Hermes from December 1923, before being posted off to Victory for duty with the Royal Naval Barracks for a period of Field Training from September 1924. He was further posted to Excellent for an Observer’s Course from October 1924, and in May 1925 was posted as an observer officer to the aircraft carrier Argus, before transferring to the aircraft carrier Furious as an acting observer officer from November 1925. As such he then rejoined Hermes from May 1926, and then transferred to the aircraft carrier Eagle from June 1926 and having been promoted to Lieutenant Commander on 15 October 1927, was then posted to Victory from October 1928.
Robinson rejoined the aircraft carrier Argus from November 1928 as the observer officer, and was then posted back to Furious from April 1930, followed by the aircraft carrier Courageous from July 1930, before joining the battlecruiser Hood from May 1931. Robinson’s service during the 1930’s is rather vague, however he was still aboard the battlecruiser Hood when the Invergordon Mutiny broke out, which was an industrial action by about 1000 sailors in the British Atlantic Fleet and lasted for two days between 15th to 16h September 1931.
The canteen at the naval base at Invergordon was the epicentre of the protests, and Robinson was assigned from Hood as the Officer of the Patrol sent to quell the Mutiny. The ‘patrol marched into the canteen intent on closing it down for the evening, Robinson climbed on top of the bar and attempted to make himself heard: “For some minutes I was shouted down. but the majority of the men were shouting ‘Give him a fair hearing’ - ‘Let’s hear what he has got to say’, and eventually I had silence. I told the men they were going the wrong way about things and would only bring discredit on themselves and the Navy, that they should bring up any complaints in the Service manner and that I would permit no more speeches.” Robinson’s speech brought an end to the meeting that evening but swayed only the minority of those who heard the speech. As the men headed back to the jetty, they did so with the knowledge that they had taken a decision to prevent the Atlantic Fleet from putting to sea.’
Robinson retired from the service, but owing to the outbreak of the Second World War he was recalled from the Retired List and promoted to Commander on 17 September 1939. What duty he fulfilled is unclear, but he is known to have been on sick leave in March 1940. As an officer with President, the London naval base, he was then killed on the night of 10th to 11th May 1941 during an air raid on London.
The German air raid of the night of 10th to 11th May 1941 lasted between 11.02 pm and 05.57 am, and was the most devastating and last of the major raids of the London Blitz. The moon was full and the Thames had a very low ebb tide. These two combined with a maximum effort by the Germans, before they moved east to attack the Soviet Union, to produce the most devastating raids on the capital.
Some 571 sorties were flown by German bombers that night, with some crews flying two or even three missions. Some 711 tons of high explosive bombs (167 were recorded as unexploded the next day) and 86,173 incendiaries were dropped. At least 2,136 fires were recorded by the London Fire Brigade. Approximately 1436 people were killed, and 1800 seriously injured. The fires resulted in 700 acres of destruction - about double that of the Great Fire of London.
Robinson was one of those killed, and he now lies commemorated in Golders Green Crematorium.