John Yate Robinson

John Robinson
Personal information
Born	6 August 1885; Catford, England
Died	23 August 1916 (aged 31); Roehampton, England
Sport
Sport	Field hockey
Position	Half-back
Years
Senior career
Years	Team
1906–1909	Cambridge University
1910	Sherborne
National team
Years	Team
1907–1911	England
Medal record
Men's field hockey
Representing Great Britain

John Yate Robinson MC (6 August 1885 – 23 August 1916)^[1] was a field hockey player, who won a gold medal with the English team at the 1908 Summer Olympics in London.^[2]^[3]

Biography

Born in Catford, son of clergyman the Reverend Edward Cecil Robinson and his wife Edith Isabella,^[4] he was educated at Radley College^[3] and Merton College, Oxford, where he was awarded his MA in 1912.^[1] He was on the Oxford University hockey team from 1905 through 1909, eventually becoming captain. He became a teacher, serving as master at Sherborne School and in Broadstairs, Kent.^[5]

He played nine times for England.^[5] After Oxford, he played for Sherborne at club level and Dorset at county level.^[6]

Robinson became a captain in the North Staffordshire Regiment in 1914, and served at Gallipoli and in Mesopotamia. He was mentioned in despatches and awarded the Military Cross.^[1] He died aged 31 at Roehampton, from wounds he had received in action at El Hannah in Mesopotamia.^[1]^[3]^[7] He was buried at Great Malvern Cemetery, Worcestershire.^[4]

References

1 2 3 4 Levens, R.G.C., ed. (1964). Merton College Register 1900–1964. Oxford: Basil Blackwell. p. 49.
↑ "John Robinson". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on 18 April 2020. Retrieved 3 August 2015.
1 2 3 "John Yate Robinson". Radley College Archives. Radley College. 17 June 2013. Retrieved 25 February 2016.
1 2 "Casualty". CWGC.org. Retrieved 7 February 2018.
1 2 "John Yate Robinson". Olympedia. Retrieved 4 August 2025.
↑ "Hockey". Dorset County Chronicle. 24 February 1910. Retrieved 4 August 2025 – via British Newspaper Archive.
↑ "Olympians Who Were Killed or Missing in Action or Died as a Result of War". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 3 August 2015.