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John A. Robinson

Scottish-born Newfoundland politician

Correspondence, annotated notebooks and portrait silhouettes prepared for research
People and ideasInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionSep 23, 2026
Entity authorityQ6217908 ↗
Source-derived summary

John Alexander Robinson (June 29, 1867 – April 7, 1929) was a Scottish-born educator, journalist and political figure in Newfoundland. He represented Trinity Bay in the Newfoundland and Labrador House of Assembly from 1898 to 1900.

Early life and career

Robinson was born in Glasgow and came to Newfoundland in 1882. For a time, Robinson was a grammar school principal in Carbonear. He founded the Newfoundland Teachers' Association and served as its president. Robinson was founder and editor of the St. John's Daily News. In 1883, Robinson married Flora Taylor.

Politics

Robinson served in the Legislative Council of Newfoundland from 1897 to 1898, from 1909 to 1919 and from 1926 to 1929. He was a member of the Executive Council serving as colonial secretary from 1898 to 1900, as Minister of Posts and Telegraphs from 1916 to 1919 and as a minister without portfolio in 1924 and 1928.

Editorial summary

“John A. Robinson” enters the record as scottish-born Newfoundland politician. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what John, Robinson and Scottish-born can confirm, complicate or overturn.

Editorial reviewA useful biographical orientation record, particularly for establishing names, roles and a first chronology. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1867, 1929, 1898, 1900—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1867-06-29. Its strongest next move is a source search built around John, Robinson and Scottish-born.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

“John A. Robinson” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, John, Robinson and Scottish-born provides the most credible route into that argument.

Evidence profile

Biographical claims are most persuasive when dates, appointments and relationships can be traced to records created close to the events described. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 23, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q6217908. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1867, 1929, 1898 and 1900.

Critical limits

Later biographies can compress uncertainty and repeat inherited reputations, so apparently settled claims may still require comparison. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.

Best used for
  • Establishing names and roles
  • Building a first chronology
  • Locating cited institutions
Verify next

Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “John A. Robinson”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow John A. Robinson primary sources, John A. Robinson archive and John research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “John A. Robinson”?
  2. Which primary records establish identity, chronology and institutional ties?
  3. Which claims depend on a single source or contested interpretation?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “John A. Robinson” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.