DEATH OF FARMING STALWART

He was the youngest child of J C Robinson who founded the family farming business in Iford in 1895 and who was made a Freeman of Lewes in 1960 for charitable donations to the town.

Henry studied agriculture at Reading University and started his farming career in 1939 at Perching Sands Farm at Fulking before returning to Iford to farm with his father in 1943.

During the latter stages of the war he was officer-in-charge of the Iford and Rodmell Platoon Home Guard.

In 1944 he married Sheila Pye, whom he met while she was working as a land girl on his brother Harris's farm at Northease.

He farmed actively at Iford for 50 years, overseeing the farm's transition from the days of milking in cowsheds and working the land with horses to the efficient mechanised unit that it is today, without destroying the beauty and the rural charm of the village of Iford.

When he arrived in 1943 there were more than 50 on the staff. Milk from the pedigree shorthorn and Guernsey cows was bottled on the farm and distributed from the farm's own dairy in Hove.

Red cattle were his main love and on his father's death in 1962, realising that the dairy shorthorn was being surpassed by the recently introduced Friesian cow, he upgraded the herd into red and white Friesians.

In the 1990s the Iford farm's herd of pedigree red and white Friesians was the largest in the country.

He was an active member of the NFU, being chairman of the Lewes branch in the 1950s and county vice-chairman in 1961/2.

He was a founder member of Lewes Farmers, the local farmers' co-operative group and a governor of Plumpton College from 1970 to 1973, being vice-chairman in 1972.

Chairman of the South Eastern Shorthorn Breeders Association in 1964, he was president of the red and white Friesian breeders Association in 1983.

He served on the Ministry of Agriculture's East Sussex agricultural executive committee from 1962 until 1971 when it was dissolved.

He was a founder member of the Sussex branch of the Farming and Wildlife Advisory Group and the inaugural meeting was held at his house.

He was also for many years chairman of the East Sussex Farmers Union Benevolent Fund, a charity set up by his father to benefit necessitous farmers and farm workers.

Mr Robinson was a very keen and knowledgeable naturalist and loved gardening for which he had a great gift, creating the large and beautiful garden at Oatlands where he lived for 40 years and latterly the garden at Oatlands Cottage where he lived for the last 10 years of his life.

He leaves Sheila, his wife of 62 years, two sons, a daughter and seven grandchildren.

A private cremation was held on Friday last week and a service of thanksgiving will be held in Iford Church on January 8 at noon.