English School, 1561

The sitter was born in the turbulent year of 1473 when the War of the Roses still raged, though Henry VI had died in the Tower of London and the Yorkist King, Edward VI, was more firmly established on the throne. Remarkably Robins was to live through the reigns of six further monarchs, witnessing the change of dynasty to the Tudors and the Reformation that so altered English society.

The Robins family came from northwest of Worcester with lands at Stockton on Teme; it seems, though, that they were largely based in London. The sitter's kinsman, probably a son or brother, Thomas Robins was buried at St Clement Eastcheap in the city in 1565 and left instructions in his Will for the provision of 20 shillings for the parishioners of Stockton 'to make them a drinking together at the house of my brother Humphrey Robins in remembrance of me.' The arms that are emblazoned on this portrait were granted to John Robins by Garter King of Arms, Sir Christopher Baker, between 1536-50. This, and the rich fur collar worn by Robins suggested that the family were one of the merchant class that had thrived under the Tudors.