Clark & Robinson

Clark & Robinson was an Australian firm of stockbrokers, of which the principals were William Clark and Lionel George Robinson. They made their fortunes in mining then left for London, where they continued to operate, living in a grand style. They are remembered for their horse racing triumphs, which included two Melbourne Cups.

Lionel Robinson (29 August 1866 – 27 July 1922) was born in Colombo a son of Mr. A. B. Robinson, for many years commercial editor of the Melbourne Age. He was educated at Scotch College, Melbourne and may have been destined for a law career, but found employment in the Melbourne stockbroking company of Donaldson & Co. This was the time of a great mining boom and Robinson discovered he had an aptitude for finances and at the comparatively early age of 22 was elected to the Melbourne Stock Exchange and went into partnership with William Clark (c. 1868 – August 1948), also a member of the Melbourne Exchange.. They developed a large and profitable business dealing in mining shares during the Broken Hill and Kalgoorlie mining booms.

In 1895 Clark & Robinson moved their office to Adelaide, initially located at 27 Grenfell Street from April 1896 to October 1897, then Cowra Chambers, 23 Grenfell Street, then from March 1899 Brookman Building, 35 Grenfell Street. Robinson made substantial investments in the Hainault Goldmiming Company, which proved highly profitable. Robinson began an association with Kalgoorlie and its "Golden Mile" when the Great Boulder Proprietary opened up its 200 ft. level, and in the late '90s deputised Sydney J. Yeo to open the company's Kalgoorlie office.

A large and lucrative business was developed with London, and Robinson moved there to handle this business in person. The rules of the not only demanded that he relinquish his membership of Australian Exchanges before he could join, but could not belong to an overseas partnership, so that with Clark was dissolved in May 1899 by mutual agreement.

For a couple of years Robinson and Clark ran their respective offices independently, then decided to reunite in London. Clark and his accountant Guy Stanton left for England in May 1902. Clark, who had renounced membership of the Stock Exchanges of Melbourne and Adelaide, was elected a member of the London Stock Exchange as from 1 January 1905, and on the same day Clark joined Robinson as a partner of the firm of Lionel Robinson and Co., renamed Lionel Robinson, Clark & Co., with offices at 24 Throgmorton Street, London. Within two years it was the largest finance house dealing in Australian mining shares in London. Business was good and the company prospered even better than it had in Australia, and each became very wealthy.

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