[2] He did not complete his studies or obtain any official qualifications, but he began practising dentistry in London as early as 1833, and became surgeon dentist at the Metropolitan Hospital the next year.

Robinson quickly earned an international reputation as a skilled dentist, and the Baltimore College of Dental Surgeons awarded him an honorary doctorate in 1846.

[2] On 17 December 1846, Boott received a letter from Jacob Bigelow detailing the Boston dentist William Thomas Green Morton's successful use of ether for general anaesthesia during an operation on a neck tumour.

On the 19th of December, at Boott's home on 24 Gower Street,[3] Robinson administered ether to a young woman undergoing a tooth extraction—the first use of general anaesthesia in Britain.

Robinson gave several demonstrations of his technique; those in attendance included Robert Liston and John Snow, who went on to make further explorations of ether's anaesthetic properties.

Despite receiving medical attention, he died of blood loss two days later, on the fourth of March and was buried on the western side of Highgate Cemetery.