by Brendan Geary

James (Séamas) Robinson was born in Belfast on 6 January 1890. When he was 30 years of age, he learned that his grandfather, who was an engineer, left Ireland after being involved in the Young Ireland Rebellion of 1848. His father was born in Lille in 1859. The family story is that his parents met on the boat back to Belfast, where they married and started a family.

In his witness statement recorded in the Bureau of Military History, 1913 – 1921, a collection of historical documents established by the Irish government to gather primary source material for the revolutionary period in Ireland from 1913 to 1921, Robinson wrote that his family were ‘Irish separatists’. He reminisced about engaging in stone throwing fights with Protestant children in the Springfield Road area of Belfast and commented on the superior sense of strategy of the ‘Orange boys’; something he was to develop when he was a leader in the struggle for Irish independence. He also said that the Catholic boys were always able to outrun their Protestant adversaries.

His parents left Belfast in 1903 and moved to Glasgow. His elder brother, Joe, who was also prominent in the struggle for Irish independence, joined the Gaelic League in 1903, and Séamas followed him.

Marist years

Robinson had attended schools run by the Dominican Sisters (Falls Road), the De La Salle Brothers (Clonard), and Irish Christian Brothers (St. Mary’s Divis Street) in Belfast. In Glasgow he attended St. Andrew’s Primary school in the East End of the city, which was run by the Marist Brothers. There cannot be many people who have been taught by the Irish Chrisitan Brothers, the De La Salle Brothers and the Marist Brothers, as well as the Dominican Sisters.

Dr Brendan Geary is a Marist Brother.

Photo courtesy of Daniel Black