Louis Robinson

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Louis Robinson was a 19th Century English physician, paediatrician and author. An ardent evolutionist, he helped pioneer modern child medicine during the later Victorian era, writing prolifically in journals on the emerging science of paediatrics[1]. Active in scientific debate, Robinson was critiqued in some parts of the press given his outspoken views in the wider debate between religious and scientific theories of human origin.

Born in 1857 to a Quaker family near Brighton, Robinson was educated at Quaker schools in Ackworth and York. He went on to study medicine in London (at St Bartholomew's Hospital) and Newcastle, before graduating top of his class in 1889. Drawing on his extensive research, Robinson's interest in evolution was expressed in a series of articles[2], which led to an appearance before the British Association at Edinburgh to present his paper "The Prehensile Power of Infants"[3].

Following a series of lectures at Oxford on vestigial reflexes, he was sought after to teach in both British and American universities, and increasingly noticed by prominent scientists like Huxley, Burdon-Sanderson and Flower. However, Robinson opted to focus on his work as a doctor in Streatham. Nonetheless, he continued his research, employing several assistants, and leading to his publication of a volume on evolution that focused on animal behaviour[4]. He was married with four children.

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  1. ^ See The Nineteenth Century, Journal of Anatomy and British Medical Journal amongst others
  2. ^ Examples include: "Darwinism in the Nursery" (1891), "The Meaning of a Baby's Footprint" (1892), "Darwinism and Swimming: a theory" (1893), "Evolution and the Amateur Naturalist" (1897), "Eye Language: the natural history of Ocular Expression" (1898)
  3. ^ A Baby's Footprint, The New York Times, May 22, 1892
  4. ^ Robinson, L (1897) Wild Traits in Tame Animals: William Blackwood & Sons, Edinburgh