David Robinson (horticulturist)

David W Robinson
Dr 4 03.jpg
David Robinson (photograph taken in 2003 by David Foley)
Born(1928-04-02)2 April 1928[1]
Died28 March 2004(2004-03-28) (aged 75)
ResidenceBelfast (1928–1964), Dublin (1964–2004)[1]
NationalityIrish
Alma mater
Known forStudies in weed control, horticultural knowledge, TV appearances and radio broadcasts, journalism, his garden at Earlscliffe earlscliffe.com, Baily, County Dublin, Ireland[1]
Awards
  • Gold Veitch Memorial Medal – Royal Horticultural Society
  • Honorary Life Membership – Royal Dublin Society
  • Honorary Life Membership -International Society for Horticultural Science
  • Fellowship and Distinguished Horticulturist Award – Institute of Horticulture
  • elected to the Institute of Horticulture's Hall of Fame 1996
  • elected a Fellow by the American Society for Horticultural Science.[1]
Scientific career
FieldsHorticultural Scientist[1]
Institutions
  • Horticultural Adviser in South Co. Down with Ministry of Agriculture, Northern Ireland (1950–53)
  • Deputy Director, Horticultural Centre, Loughgall, Northern Ireland. (1953–64)
  • Director, Kinsealy Research Centre / Agricultural Institute, Dublin (1964–88)
  • External Examiner for BSc, MS and PhD degrees at University Colleges Dublin and Cork, the Dublin and Tralee Institutes of Technology, University of Bath, England, Wye College, University of London and the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow.[1]
Websitewww.earlscliffe.com

David Willis Robinson (2 April 1928 – 28 March 2004) was a Northern Irish horticultural scientist who made important contributions to the national and international fields of horticulture and agriculture throughout his entire life, with more than 120 publications. After a working life in research, retirement saw him become a journalist and television/radio presenter and, as a sideline, a leader of gardening tours around the world. He cultivated and managed the Earlscliffe Gardens at the Baily, Howth, County Dublin, Ireland.[1]

Life

Education and early experience

Born in 1928, Robinson said later that he decided on a career in horticulture at the age of 10[2] and he worked in that field all his life. His father was a building contractor.

Robinson obtained his bachelor's degree in horticulture from Reading University. Some years later he pursued a master's degree in pomology from Cornell University (USA) and then after a further interval, a doctorate from Queen's University Belfast, with a focus on weed science. He gained practical early experience on a fruit farm near Pershore and a vegetable farm at Musselburgh, East Lothian, Scotland.[1]

Robinson worked as a horticultural adviser for the Ministry of Agriculture (1950–53), in County Down. The late 1940s and early 1950s was a time of great food shortages in Europe, and governments were pouring money into horticultural research. New Research Stations were being set up in a number of countries, and in 1953 he was appointed Deputy Director at the newly-established Horticulture Research Centre in Loughgall, County Armagh. His first major job was to help clean up the weed problem in fruit crops. His research into the many chemical tools that were becoming available at the time established him as an expert in this field. However, he had at the time no training in research methods or statistical analysis and felt that he was in a job for which he was inadequately trained, but he acted to change this. As Robinson later wrote, "I knew early in 1954 that the well endowed W.K. Kellogg Foundation was giving grants to people in Britain to provide further training in the USA for agricultural graduates. I happened to be in London in March 1954 and by pure chance I passed by the headquarters of the Foundation. I still don't know what gave me the courage but I walked in, asked to see the Director (without an appointment) and told him I wanted a Kellogg Foundation Grant to study at Cornell University in New York State for a year. At the time I worked for the Ministry of Agriculture in Northern Ireland, a most bureaucratic organisation, and when I returned all hell was let loose for the Ministry felt (understandably) that they and they alone should decide who would benefit from Kellogg grants. Anyway I was released for a year and spent 1954/55 in the States where I learned a great deal about research and plants. The US had not suffered from the War the way Europe had and it was an exhilarating time."[3] Having been introduced to his future wife by a friend in 1953, they married in 1955.[2]

Robinson continued to work at the Horticultural Centre in Loughgall until 1964.

Republic of Ireland and career, 1964-1988

Robinson had been invited down south to the Republic of Ireland on a number of occasions to give advice. For example, John Daly, agricultural instructor and later father of the RTÉ gardening expert Gerry Daly, had invited him several times, starting in 1959, to come and lecture to the fruit growers in County Wexford on his research into weed control. At that period there was virtually no contact between the horticulturists of Northern Ireland and the Republic. It was as a result of these trips that he was offered in October 1963 a post as Director of Horticultural Research at the Kinsealy Research Centre, a facility of the Agricultural Research Institute (now a Teagasc facility), at Kinsealy north of Dublin, Ireland. He had won a Fulbright Grant to spend some further time in the USA, but despite this and ongoing projects, he eventually accepted the offer, taking up the new post in May 1964, moving to live in Ard na Mara, Malahide.[1]

Robinson remained in the Kinsealy post for almost 25 years (1964–88).[1] His work included projects on commercial production of soft fruits among others, at centres of the Agricultural Research Institute at Ballygagin and Clonroche, and work on his no-hoe / no-till technique of low-maintenance cultivation.

Professional bodies

Robinson represented Ireland on the Council of the International Society for Horticultural Science from 1964–90, and was President of the Horticultural Education Association of Great Britain and Ireland from 1971–1972.

Earlscliffe Garden

The Robinsons bought Earlscliffe House and gardens at the Baily, Howth, just outside Dublin, in 1969. Robinson's 7-acre (28,000 m2) garden there, maintained with minimal outside help, has been designated one of Ireland's National Plant Heritage Gardens and was awarded the highest accolade (two stars) in the 1999 Good Gardens Guide (Ebury Press).[4] It benefits from a sheltered location with a warm microclimate, and plants growing there include bananas, tree ferns, South African Erica and a range of palms, all flourishing outside without any winter protection. At times it was available for garden tours by groups.[1] Robinson also supported some research interests on a private basis from the garden, for example sending foliage of New Zealand-originated plants to a New Zealand entomologist in France, who was testing attraction for certain garden pests, such as the fall web worm and an Asian moth.

Urban horticulture

The International Society for Horticultural Science (ISHS) established a Commission for Urban Horticulture in 1982, to look at uses of plants to maintain and even improve the urban environment, and Robinson agreed to become its first chairman. After giving an opening address on to a German horticultural conference on the topic, he was invited by Humboldt University (of Berlin) as a Guest Professor in Urban Horticulture, and spent from three to six weeks in Berlin annually from 1993 to 1998, developing and delivering a course on Urban Horticulture.

Other educational work and society memberships

Robinson was External Examiner for BSc, MS and PhD degrees at University College Dublin and University College Cork, as well as Dublin Institute of Technology and Institute of Technology, Tralee, and the University of Bath (England), Wye College, University of London (England), and the University of Strathclyde (Glasgow, Scotland).

He was also chairman of BASIS (Republic of Ireland); BASIS was an independent organisation from interested sections of the agrochemical industry aimed at raising standards of handling, storing, utilising and disseminating information on agricultural pesticides.

Media, journalism and public appearances

Robinson was a regular panel member on the Irish RTÉ Radio One Ask About Gardening show led by Gerry Daly, answering impromptu gardening questions phoned in by listeners. For a four-year period, he was also a presenter on the Green Fingers television programme, which was transmitted by BBC Northern Ireland, and RTÉ.[5] He wrote on gardening topics for a number of Irish and UK newspapers, journals and magazines, including Ireland's most-read agricultural newspaper, the Farmers Journal, and the top-selling gardening magazine, The Irish Garden.

He also judged at national and international garden festivals. He visited over 70 countries on horticultural missions, and was an invited speaker at conferences on five continents.

Consultancy

Robinson was employed as an overseas consultant by a number of organisations including the UN's FAO (Food and Agricultural Organisation), the Irish Department of Foreign Affairs, APSO and the Irish Horticultural Development Board. Countries involved included Kenya, Lesotho, Libya, Malta, Namibia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Sudan, Swaziland and Zimbabwe.

He carried out garden and plant reconnaissance tours in the Caribbean, Borneo and Sweden, and led gardening tours to these and many other countries including New Zealand, Australia and Majorca. He lectured on cruise ships and led shore excursions in the South Pacific, Mediterranean, the Canary Islands, round Britain and in the Madeira/Caribbean/Azores areas.

Death and legacy

Robinson died in March 2004 and was survived by his wife, Muriel (1929-2016),[1] daughter Karen, son Ivan and their families.[6]

Publications and editorial work

Robinson was the author of over 120 scientific publications, mainly on weed control, and joint editor of three books on horticultural science.[1]

Robinson was on the Editorial Board of Scientia Horticulturae (1970–89), Associate Editor of Crops Research Journal (1982–89) and on the Editorial Board of Chronica Horticulturae (1992–95).

Recognition

Robinson's work in horticulture was recognised by many awards including the Gold Veitch Memorial Medal from the Royal Horticultural Society, Honorary Life Membership of the Royal Dublin Society and of the International Society for Horticultural Science. He was given Fellowship and the Distinguished Horticulturist Award from the Institute of Horticulture, and in 1996 was elected to the Institute's Hall of Fame. He was also elected a Fellow by the American Society for Horticultural Science, the highest award offered by that Society.[1]

Lectures

In 2005, the year after his death, the Annual College Lecture for students of horticulture in Ireland, organised and sponsored by Bord Bia, was renamed as the David Robinson Memorial Lecture in his honour, and continues to be given annually under that name.[1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Earlscliffe.com - Earlscliffe garden website
  2. ^ a b Didcot, Oxfordshire, UK: The Horticulturist, Vol. 12, No. 4, Autumn 2003, "Plants that changed my life"
  3. ^ Lecture given to the Howth Peninsula Society, September 1998; original notes in possession of his family.
  4. ^ Obituary at https://www.irishtimes.com/news/worldwide-reputation-in-field-of-horticulture-1.1140683 seen on 18 June 2019
  5. ^ Dr David Robinson (1928 – 2004) An Appreciation by Keith Lamb & Brendan Sayers Newsletter of The Irish Garden Plant Society, Issue No. 97, July 2005.
  6. ^ [1] Obituary written for the International Society for Horticultural Science, published in Chronica Horticulturae, Volume 44, Number 2 (2004), p.43

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