Robinson was born in Forth Street, Newcastle. In 1848, he was apprenticed to Thomas H. Tweedy of Grainger street in the art of carving and gilding, and remained there as his foreman until 1862. Robinson produced a wide range of work from furniture to portrait figures of local personalities like the comedian Billy Purvis (q.v.). This was first carved in 1855 and many times repeated. Another favourite subject was his namesake Robinson Crusoe. Large carved sideboards were very popular in the 1850s after the Great Exhibition of 1851, and though design reformers were horrified, Thomas Tweedy successfully displayed the vastly ornate Robinson Crusoe sideboard and the Shakespeare sideboard (now in the Shipley Gallery, Gateshead) at the International Exhibition of 1862. The majority of the minute figure carving was Robinson's.
Encouraged by this success, Robinson set up on his own in 1862 and completed his extraordinary masterpiece, the Chevy Chase sideboard, now at the Grosvenor Hotel, Shaftesbury, Dorset. Here the historical events are related as a series of three-dimensional paintings. The piece was not sold in Newcastle, however, and Robinson went off to London with it and remained there until 1866. During his time in the capital he carved the lectern for the prominent church of St James, Piccadilly.
Back in Newcastle, Robinson set up in premises at 30 Collingwood Street and gained a number of important commissions, including a 'Derby Day' sideboard for Sir George Chetwynd. It contains over a hundred carved figures in the foreground alone. Commissions fell away in the 1870s, however, as tastes changed. From his premises now at Salmon's Court, Newgate Street (where L.G. Ekins fine Art Deco Co-op store of 1931 now stands) Robinson continued giving lessons, doing book illustration, carving pub signs and working for travelling showmen. He did produce carved furniture pieces on occasion, but they lacked the vitality of his earlier work. Robinson died at Pine Street, Scotswood. In 1991, an exhibition of his astonishing work was held at the Laing Art Gallery in Newcastle on the centenary of the artist's death. Robinson's son William (1867-1945) was also a woodcarver and his work may be seen in the Shipley Gallery, as well as St Nicholas Cathedral.