James Robin was a prominent businessman in the early days of colonial South Australia. Several of his descendants were significant, in the Methodist Church and other fields. Also worthy of mention are his brothers Charles and Theophilus Robin. Their father, Nicholas Robin, a citizen of Guernsey, was married to Esther de Quetteville, daughter of Rev. Jean de Quetteville "The Apostle of French Methodism". He died at his home at St Jacques, Guernsey.
History
James Robin was born on Guernsey and educated at Elizabeth College. Around 1835 he left for Brazil, where he spent six years with the firm of Bramley Moore & Co, returned to Liverpool, where he established a shipping agency, and married the daughter of Thomas Rowland of Gravesend, in 1844. In May 1851 he arrived in Adelaide, where he set up a wholesale import business Robin & Le Bair. In 1866 he was appointed vice-consul for Brazil, an honorary position he held until his death. He had 5 sons and 3 daughters. At least three of his sons attended J. L. Young's Adelaide Educational Institution. Those who featured at prizegivings were James, Rowland and Henry. He suffered from a speech defect which prevented him from public speaking, but was an ardent Methodist church-goer, and was the prime mover behind the formation of Prince Alfred College at the Wesleyan Lecture Hall, Pirie Street. He was, with brother Theophilus, on the building committee in 1867 when Prince Alfred laid the foundation stone of the main building at Kent Town. Many boys from the various branches of the Robin family left their mark in the academic and sporting records of "P.A.C.".
brother Charles Robin was a land dealer with an office in Gilbert Street, Adelaide. He arrived in South Australia in October 1851, a few months after his brother James. In the London office of Robert Torrens in 1851, with fellow Guernsey citizens James Thoume and N. P. Le Bair, Charles took a lease on the Kent Town section of Adelaide, then known as "Dr. Kent's Section", with an option to convert to freehold. He arrived in Adelaide in October to find that brother James had entered a business partnership with Captain Le Bair. In 1854, Charles, his brother James and Henry Ayers purchased part of the section from Dr. Benjamin Archer Kent without reference to his previous partners. This became the subject of complex litigation in 1858 brought on by Thoume and an associate William Frederick Blanchard. The suit was eventually dropped on condition of Charles meeting some of his opponents' costs. He returned to Guernsey soon after being declared insolvent. Properties in Adelaide and Melbourne which he owned, or had mortgages on, had been liquidated for a fraction of their purchase price without his knowledge. Other properties in Port Adelaide and Port Augusta were liquidated after his death in Les Rohais, Guernsey.
