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David Robinson (horticulturist)
Encyclopedia
Professor David Willis Robinson (2 April 1928 - 28 March 2004), BSc(Hort), MS, PhD, VMM, FI(Hort) was an Irish
horticultural scientist who made important contributions to the national and international field of horticulture
and agriculture
throughout his entire life. After a working life in the field of research, retirement saw his life change. He became a journalist and television/radio presenter and, as a sideline, led gardening tours around the world. He also managed the internationally renowned Earlscliffe garden in Baily, Co. Dublin, Ireland
.
, USA and his Doctorate from Queen's University Belfast.
He gained practical early experience on a fruit farm near Pershore
and a vegetable farm at Musselburgh
, East Lothian.
He worked as Horticultural Adviser in South Co. Down, Northern Ireland for the Ministry of Agriculture (1950 - 53). However, the late 1940s and early 1950s was a time of great food shortage in Europe and governments were pouring money into horticultural research. New Research Stations were being set up in a number of countries, so in 1953 he was appointed Deputy Director at the newly formed Horticulture Research Centre in Loughgall
, Co. 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. This was soon to change.
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."
gardening expert Gerry Daly had invited him on several occasions in the 1950s to come and lecture to the fruit growers in Wexford
on his research into weed control. At that period there was virtually no contact between the horticulturists of the North and South. It was as a result of these trips down south that he eventually got the post as Director of Horticultural Research in the Kinsealy
Research Centre, Agricultural Research Institute (now Teagasc
) in the Republic of Ireland. He remained in this post for almost 25 years (1964-88).
He was a past President of the Horticultural Education Association of Great Britain
and Ireland (1971-72) and represented Ireland on the Council of the International Society for Horticultural Science from 1964 to 1990. 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, utilizing and disseminating information on agricultural pesticides. Robinson was on the Editorial Board of Scientia Horticulturae (1970-1989), Associate Editor of Crops Research Journal (1982-1989) and on the Editorial Board of Chronica Horticulturae (1992-1995).
Radio One Ask About Gardening show with 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
and RTÉ. He wrote on gardening topics for a number of Irish and UK newspapers, journals and magazines, including the Farmer's Journal and The Irish Garden. He also judged at national and international garden festivals. He published over 100 scientific papers and was joint editor of three books. He visited over 70 countries on horticultural missions, was an invited speaker at conferences in all five continents and was Guest Professor in Urban Horticulture at the Humboldt University, Berlin
, Germany from 1992 to 1999.
), 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.
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.
Robinson died in March 2004 and was survived by his wife, Muriel, daughter Karen, son Ivan and their families.
Irish people
The Irish people are an ethnic group who originate in Ireland, an island in northwestern Europe. Ireland has been populated for around 9,000 years , with the Irish people's earliest ancestors recorded having legends of being descended from groups such as the Nemedians, Fomorians, Fir Bolg, Tuatha...
horticultural scientist who made important contributions to the national and international field of horticulture
Horticulture
Horticulture is the industry and science of plant cultivation including the process of preparing soil for the planting of seeds, tubers, or cuttings. Horticulturists work and conduct research in the disciplines of plant propagation and cultivation, crop production, plant breeding and genetic...
and agriculture
Agriculture
Agriculture is the cultivation of animals, plants, fungi and other life forms for food, fiber, and other products used to sustain life. Agriculture was the key implement in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that nurtured the...
throughout his entire life. After a working life in the field of research, retirement saw his life change. He became a journalist and television/radio presenter and, as a sideline, led gardening tours around the world. He also managed the internationally renowned Earlscliffe garden in Baily, Co. Dublin, Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
.
Education and early experience
Born in 1928, Robinson worked in horticulture all his life. He obtained his Bachelors degree in horticulture from Reading University, his Masters degree from Cornell UniversityCornell University
Cornell University is an Ivy League university located in Ithaca, New York, United States. It is a private land-grant university, receiving annual funding from the State of New York for certain educational missions...
, USA and his Doctorate from Queen's University Belfast.
He gained practical early experience on a fruit farm near Pershore
Pershore
Pershore is a market town in Worcestershire, England, on the banks of the River Avon. Pershore is in the Wychavon district and is part of the West Worcestershire parliamentary constituency. At the 2001 census the population was 7,304...
and a vegetable farm at Musselburgh
Musselburgh
Musselburgh is the largest settlement in East Lothian, Scotland, on the coast of the Firth of Forth, six miles east of Edinburgh city centre.-History:...
, East Lothian.
He worked as Horticultural Adviser in South Co. Down, Northern Ireland for the Ministry of Agriculture (1950 - 53). However, the late 1940s and early 1950s was a time of great food shortage in Europe and governments were pouring money into horticultural research. New Research Stations were being set up in a number of countries, so in 1953 he was appointed Deputy Director at the newly formed Horticulture Research Centre in Loughgall
Loughgall
Loughgall is a small village and townland in County Armagh, Northern Ireland. In the 2001 Census it had a population of 285 people.Loughgall was named after a small nearby loch. The village is at the heart of the apple-growing industry and is surrounded by orchards. Along the village's main street...
, Co. 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. This was soon to change.
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
Cornell University
Cornell University is an Ivy League university located in Ithaca, New York, United States. It is a private land-grant university, receiving annual funding from the State of New York for certain educational missions...
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
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
the way Europe had and it was an exhilarating time."
Move to the South of Ireland
Robinson remained a research worker at the Horticultural Centre, Loughgall, Northern Ireland until 1964. During that period he had been invited down south to the Republic of Ireland on a number of occasions to give advice. John Daly, the father of the RTÉRaidió Teilifís Éireann
Raidió Teilifís Éireann is a semi-state company and the public service broadcaster of Ireland. It both produces programmes and broadcasts them on television, radio and the Internet. The radio service began on January 1, 1926, while regular television broadcasts began on December 31, 1961, making...
gardening expert Gerry Daly had invited him on several occasions in the 1950s to come and lecture to the fruit growers in Wexford
Wexford
Wexford is the county town of County Wexford, Ireland. It is situated near the southeastern corner of Ireland, close to Rosslare Europort. The town is connected to Dublin via the M11/N11 National Primary Route, and the national rail network...
on his research into weed control. At that period there was virtually no contact between the horticulturists of the North and South. It was as a result of these trips down south that he eventually got the post as Director of Horticultural Research in the Kinsealy
Kinsealy
Kinsealy is an outer suburb of Dublin, Ireland, about 7km from the city centre, in the administration of Fingal County Council, within County Dublin....
Research Centre, Agricultural Research Institute (now Teagasc
Teagasc
Teagasc is the semi-state authority in the Republic of Ireland responsible for research and development, training and advisory services in the agri-food sector. The authority has a number of county advisory centres, colleges and research centres in which it carries out its main business...
) in the Republic of Ireland. He remained in this post for almost 25 years (1964-88).
Other educational work and society memberships
Robinson was External Examiner for BSc, MS and PhD degrees at University Colleges Dublin and Cork, the Dublin and Tralee Institutes of Technology, Bath University, England, Wye College, University of London and the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow.He was a past President of the Horticultural Education Association of Great Britain
Great Britain
Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...
and Ireland (1971-72) and represented Ireland on the Council of the International Society for Horticultural Science from 1964 to 1990. 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, utilizing and disseminating information on agricultural pesticides. Robinson was on the Editorial Board of Scientia Horticulturae (1970-1989), Associate Editor of Crops Research Journal (1982-1989) and on the Editorial Board of Chronica Horticulturae (1992-1995).
Publications
Robinson was the author of over 120 scientific publications, mainly on weed control, and joint editor of three books on horticultural science. More can be found at the website www.earlscliffe.com.Earlscliffe Garden
His 7 acres (28,328 m²) garden, Earlscliffe see the website www.earlscliffe.com, Baily, Co. Dublin, Ireland is 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).Journalism and media appearances
David Robinson was a regular panel member on the Irish RTÉRTE
RTÉ is the abbreviation for Raidió Teilifís Éireann, the public broadcasting service of the Republic of Ireland.RTE may also refer to:* Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, 25th Prime Minister of Turkey...
Radio One Ask About Gardening show with 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
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
and RTÉ. He wrote on gardening topics for a number of Irish and UK newspapers, journals and magazines, including the Farmer's Journal and The Irish Garden. He also judged at national and international garden festivals. He published over 100 scientific papers and was joint editor of three books. He visited over 70 countries on horticultural missions, was an invited speaker at conferences in all five continents and was Guest Professor in Urban Horticulture at the Humboldt University, Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
, Germany from 1992 to 1999.
Consultancy
Robinson was employed as an overseas consultant by a number of organisations including FAO (Food and Agricultural OrganisationFood and Agriculture Organization
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations is a specialised agency of the United Nations that leads international efforts to defeat hunger. Serving both developed and developing countries, FAO acts as a neutral forum where all nations meet as equals to negotiate agreements and...
), Department of Foreign Affairs, APSO and the Irish Horticultural Development Board. Countries involved included Kenya
Kenya
Kenya , officially known as the Republic of Kenya, is a country in East Africa that lies on the equator, with the Indian Ocean to its south-east...
, Lesotho
Lesotho
Lesotho , officially the Kingdom of Lesotho, is a landlocked country and enclave, surrounded by the Republic of South Africa. It is just over in size with a population of approximately 2,067,000. Its capital and largest city is Maseru. Lesotho is a member of the Commonwealth of Nations. The name...
, Libya
Libya
Libya is an African country in the Maghreb region of North Africa bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to the east, Sudan to the southeast, Chad and Niger to the south, and Algeria and Tunisia to the west....
, Malta
Malta
Malta , officially known as the Republic of Malta , is a Southern European country consisting of an archipelago situated in the centre of the Mediterranean, south of Sicily, east of Tunisia and north of Libya, with Gibraltar to the west and Alexandria to the east.Malta covers just over in...
, Namibia
Namibia
Namibia, officially the Republic of Namibia , is a country in southern Africa whose western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Angola and Zambia to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and east. It gained independence from South Africa on 21 March...
, Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia , commonly known in British English as Saudi Arabia and in Arabic as as-Sa‘ūdiyyah , is the largest state in Western Asia by land area, constituting the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and the second-largest in the Arab World...
, South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
, Sudan
Sudan
Sudan , officially the Republic of the Sudan , is a country in North Africa, sometimes considered part of the Middle East politically. It is bordered by Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the northeast, Eritrea and Ethiopia to the east, South Sudan to the south, the Central African Republic to the...
, Swaziland
Swaziland
Swaziland, officially the Kingdom of Swaziland , and sometimes called Ngwane or Swatini, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa, bordered to the north, south and west by South Africa, and to the east by Mozambique...
and Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe is a landlocked country located in the southern part of the African continent, between the Zambezi and Limpopo rivers. It is bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the southwest, Zambia and a tip of Namibia to the northwest and Mozambique to the east. Zimbabwe has three...
.
He carried out garden and plant reconnaissance tours in the Caribbean
Caribbean
The Caribbean is a crescent-shaped group of islands more than 2,000 miles long separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north...
, Borneo
Borneo
Borneo is the third largest island in the world and is located north of Java Island, Indonesia, at the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia....
and Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
, and led gardening tours to these and many other countries including New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
and Majorca. He lectured on cruise ships and led shore excursions in the South Pacific
Oceania
Oceania is a region centered on the islands of the tropical Pacific Ocean. Conceptions of what constitutes Oceania range from the coral atolls and volcanic islands of the South Pacific to the entire insular region between Asia and the Americas, including Australasia and the Malay Archipelago...
, Mediterranean, the Canary Islands
Canary Islands
The Canary Islands , also known as the Canaries , is a Spanish archipelago located just off the northwest coast of mainland Africa, 100 km west of the border between Morocco and the Western Sahara. The Canaries are a Spanish autonomous community and an outermost region of the European Union...
, round Britain
Great Britain
Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...
and in the Madeira
Madeira
Madeira is a Portuguese archipelago that lies between and , just under 400 km north of Tenerife, Canary Islands, in the north Atlantic Ocean and an outermost region of the European Union...
/Caribbean
Caribbean
The Caribbean is a crescent-shaped group of islands more than 2,000 miles long separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north...
/Azores
Azores
The Archipelago of the Azores is composed of nine volcanic islands situated in the middle of the North Atlantic Ocean, and is located about west from Lisbon and about east from the east coast of North America. The islands, and their economic exclusion zone, form the Autonomous Region of the...
areas.
Awards
His work in horticulture was recognised by many awards including the coveted Gold Veitch Memorial MedalThe Veitch Memorial Medal
The Veitch Memorial Medal, is a prestigious international prize issued annually by the Royal Horticultural Society .-Goal:The prize is awarded to "persons of any nationality who have made an outstanding contribution to the advancement and improvement of the science and practice of horticulture"...
from the Royal Horticultural Society
Royal Horticultural Society
The Royal Horticultural Society was founded in 1804 in London, England as the Horticultural Society of London, and gained its present name in a Royal Charter granted in 1861 by Prince Albert...
, Honorary Life Membership of the Royal Dublin Society
Royal Dublin Society
The Royal Dublin Society was founded on 25 June 1731 to "to promote and develop agriculture, arts, industry, and science in Ireland". The RDS is synonymous with its main premises in Ballsbridge in Dublin, Ireland...
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.
Robinson died in March 2004 and was survived by his wife, Muriel, daughter Karen, son Ivan and their families.