Thomas Robinson - Definition and Overview

Thomas Robinson, 1st Baron Grantham (c. 1695 - 30 September 1770), English diplomatist and politician, was a younger son of Sir William Robinson, Bt. (1655-1736) of Newby, Yorkshire, who was member of parliament for York from 1697 to 1722.

Having been a scholar and minor fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, Thomas Robinson gained his earliest diplomatic experience in Paris and then went to Vienna, where he was English ambassador from 1730 to 1748. During 1741 he sought to make peace between the empress Maria Theresa and Frederick the Great, but in vain, and in 1748 he represented his country at the Congress of Aix-la-Chapelle.

Returning to England he sat in parliament for Christchurch from 1749 to 1761. In 1754 Robinson was appointed Secretary of State for the Southern Department and Leader of the House of Commons by the prime minister, the Duke of Newcastle, and it was on this occasion that Pitt made the famous remark to Fox, "the duke might as well have sent us his jackboot to lead us." In November 1755 he resigned, and in April 1761 he was created Baron Grantham. He was Master of the Wardrobe from 1749 to 1754 and again from 1755 to 1760, and was joint Postmaster-General in 1765 and 1766. He died in London on 30 September 1770.