Murrell Robinson Robinson, engineer and surveyor, was the son of Macleod Robinson and his wife Anna Maria Sophia Murrell. During 1837-1838 he worked with the Ordnance Survey, then as a surveyor in Kent (1839-1840) and subsequently in private practice. In October 1841 he joined a party of settlers led by Lieutenant-Governor Richard Clement Moody to the Falkland Islands, where he worked as Moody's private secretary, but also did survey work. Early in 1843 he was sent to the Rio Negro territory in Argentina to obtain horses and experienced gauchos for the colony and his detailed report on the region was forwarded to the Colonial Office. However, following serious conflict between him and Moody he lost his position in 1845. Upon his return to England he was appointed as second assistant surveyor general and acting civil engineer at the Cape Colony in 1846. He also served as justice of the peace for Albany.

Following the Eighth Frontier War (1850-1853) he laid out Queenstown, founded in February 1853 as the centre of a newly annexed area. A unique feature of the town is the central hexagon, forming the business centre, from which six streets radiate. Robinson planned this lay-out with the defense of the town in mind, the roads allowing rapid access to any point on the periphery of the town and also serving as firing lines. That same year his Memoranda... on the distribution of lands in the divisions of Queen's Town and Victoria was published in Grahamstown in the form of a pamphlet. During the next few years, with his headquarters at Fort Beaufort, he conducted surveys in the border districts in connection with a settlement scheme initiated by the Governor, Sir George Cathcart.

Robinson was an early member of the Literary, Scientific and Medical Society of Grahamstown (founded in July 1855 as the Grahamstown Medico-Chirurgical Society, but renamed in January 1856). In March 1856 he read a paper before the society on roads and railways. Although there were no railways in southern Africa at that time, he thought that railroads might be constructed along the coast, but that engineering and financial difficulties would prevent their extension into the interior. In June that year he was elected joint vice-president of the society and a year later became its president, a position he held for at least two years. He was furthermore one of the first trustees of the society's Albany Museum.

In 1859 Robinson was appointed deputy colonial engineer. By 1862 he was acting colonial engineer and the next year colonial engineer and commissioner of roads for the Cape Colony. By 1869 he was chief inspector of public works and was concerned mainly with road building and maintenance. One of his favoured projects was building a pass over the Outeniqua Mountains to link Mossel Bay and Oudtshoorn. The pass was built by Thomas Bain* during 1867-1869 and was named Robinson Pass in recognition of Robinson's support for the project. By 1874 he was a member of the Table Bay Dock and Breakwater Management Commission. He retired in 1876 and subsequently returned to London, though in 1886 he was still listed as a pensioner in the colony's General directory..., (1886).

Robinson was elected an associate of the Institution of Civil Engineers (AMICE) in 1861 and a member (MICE) in 1870. In 1850 he married Mary Anne Bance, born Ebden, with whom he had two daughters.

List of sources:

Bull, M. Abraham de Smidt, 1829-1908; artist and Surveyor-General of the Cape Colony. Cape Town: M. Bull, 1981.

Cape of Good Hope. Report of the Chief Inspector of Public Works, 1869.

Cape of Good Hope. Report of the Colonial Engineer, 1862, 1863.

Cape of Good Hope almanac and annual register, 1857-1860: Grahamstown Literary, Scientific and Medical Society.

Eastern Province Monthly Magazine, August 1857, Vol. 1, p. 697: Our institutes; June 1858, Vol. 2, pp. 597-601: Literary, Scientific and Medical Society.

Eastern Province yearbook, 1862.

FamilySearch: Murrell Robinson Robinson. https://www.familysearch.org/en/tree/person/details/M97M-2SC AND https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:NVQZ-45X?lang=en

General directory and guide-book to the Cape of Good Hope and its dependencies, 1886.

Grahamstown Journal, 8 March 1856, p. 2; 1 July 1856, p. 3; 11 July 1857, p. 2: Literary, Scientific and Medical Society.

Hewitt, J. The Albany Museum, Grahamstown. Southern African Museums Association Bulletin (SAMAB), 1947, Vol. 4(4), pp. 81-91.

Obituary: Murrell Robinson Robinson. ICE Virtual Library. https://www.icevirtuallibrary.com/doi/pdf/10.1680/imotp.1900.18670 Retrieved on 27 June 2020.

National Automated Archival Information Retrieval System (NAAIRS). http://national.archives.gov.za/naairs.htm Documents relating to Robinson, Murell Robinson.

Robinson, Murrell Robinson. Dictionary of Falklands Biography. Retrieved from https://www.falklandsbiographies.org/biographies/393 on 27 June 2020.

Smit, J.J. Die paaie, passe en rivieroorgange in Suid-Kaapland, 1806-1858. Doktorale proefskrif in Geskiedenis, Universiteit van Suid-Afrika, 1975.

South African bibliography to the year 1925. London: Mansell, 1979.

Standard encyclopaedia of southern Africa (SESA). Cape Town: NASOU, 1970-1976.

Compiled by: C. Plug

Last updated: 2025-10-16 11:33:45