John Frederick Robinson
John Frederick Robinson (1853-1918) of Sharp, Stewart and Co and the North British Locomotive Co
1918 Obituary [1]
JOHN FREDERICK ROBINSON was born at Bowdon, Cheshire, on 27th May 1853, being a member of a well-known Yorkshire family of bankers. He was a son of Mr. John Robinson, Past-President, who was for many years is prominent partner in the firm of Messrs. Sharp, Stewart and Co., locomotive builders and machine-tool makers of the Atlas Works, Manchester.
He was educated at Rose Hill, Bowdon, and also at Repton School, then attended the three years' course in Civil and Mechanical Engineering at Owens College, Manchester, from 1869 to 1872, and afterwards serving three years' apprenticeship, from 1872 to 1875, at the Atlas Works.
He was from October 1875 to December 1876 at the Crewe Works of the London and North Western Railway, and from February 1877 to March 1878, at the Baldwin Locomotive Works, Philadelphia, U.S.A.
In 1881 he became one of the Managing Directors of Messrs. Sharp, Stewart and Co., Ltd., Manchester, and on the removal of their works to Springburn, Glasgow, in January 1888, he became sole Managing Director.
Following the amalgamation in 1903 of Messrs. Sharp, Stewart and Co., Ltd., with the firms of Messrs. Neilson, Reid and Co., and Messrs. Dubs and Co. — The North British Locomotive Co., Ltd. — he acted as Managing Director to that Company in London, a position he held until May 1909, resigning on account of ill-health, but remaining up to the time of his decease a Director of the Company.
His death took place at Inverness on 12th July 1918, at the age of sixty-five. He took an active interest in the work of the Engineering Standards Committee, especially in connexion with locomotives.
He became a Member of this Institution in 1878, and was on the Council during the period 1902 to 1909.
He was also a Member of the Institution of Civil Engineers.