Peter Crichton Robinson (1936–2019)

Abstract

Peter Robinson was born in York on 15 January 1936, grew up in Scarborough and attended the Graham Sea Training School. But rather than going to sea afterwards he took a series of local jobs while developing his lifelong interest in geology and natural history. By 1954 he had become a National Park Voluntary Warden, and in 1957 he joined both the Yorkshire Geological Society and the Botanical Society of the British Isles. He began his geological career in 1957 as a junior laboratory technician in the former Geology Department of Hull University. At that time, it was a very small department and, together with Mike Holiday, Peter provided the whole range of technical support required. There, together with then research student John Catt, he developed a new technique for preparing thin sections of clays. This was published in Geological Magazine in 1961. His helpfulness and enthusiasm were already apparent and remained characteristics of Peter throughout his life. His contribution to the department and university extended far beyond his technical role – he took the students’ Harker Geological Society on day excursions to the Yorkshire coast, and was always happy to help them with practical queries. He helped members of the botany department in the field, showing the link between geology and floral distributions in the North Yorks Moors, and he was already building up an important collection of local fossils that he continued to add to for the rest of his career. Peter was very generous …