He was educated at Marlborough College, and received a scholarship for the Royal School of Mines though he was unable to complete his studies there due to a lung infection.
[2] In 1901–1902 he, with Nelson Annandale, led an expedition to Perak and the Siamese Malay States; Robinson wrote a report on tiger beetles.
He retired from the civil service in 1926 and began preparing a comprehensive illustrated account of the birds of the Malay Peninsula.
[7] Acknowledgement of his contributions to zoology include a species of bat, Nyctimene robinsoni, named by Oldfield Thomas when describing the specimens Robinson had obtained at Cooktown in eastern Australia.
[8] Robinson is commemorated in the scientific names of two species of lizards: Malayodracon robinsonii and Tropidophorus robinsoni.