Warren Delano Robbins

Warren Delano Robbins (September 3, 1885 – April 7, 1935) was an American diplomat and first cousin of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. He served as Chief of Protocol of the United States from 1931 to 1933 and as the U.S. Minister to El Salvador and Canada from 1933 to 1935.

Warren Delano Robbins
3rd Chief of Protocol of the United States
In office
September 15, 1931 – June 11, 1933
PresidentHerbert Hoover
Preceded byF. Lammot Belin
Succeeded byJames Clement Dunn
United States Minister to Canada
In office
May 16, 1933 – March 28, 1935
PresidentFranklin D. Roosevelt
Preceded byHanford MacNider
Succeeded byNorman Armour
United States Minister to El Salvador
In office
February 27, 1929 – April 30, 1931
PresidentHerbert Hoover
Preceded byJefferson Caffery
Succeeded byCharles B. Curtis
Personal details
Born
Warren Delano Robbins

(1885-09-03)September 3, 1885
Brooklyn, New York, U.S.
DiedApril 7, 1935(1935-04-07) (aged 49)
Manhattan, New York, U.S.
Spouse(s)
Irene de Bruyn
​
(
m. 1910; his death 1935)
RelationsKatharine St. George (half-sister)
Children3
EducationGroton School
Alma materHarvard University
AwardsOrder of Leopold

Early life
Franklin D. Roosevelt, his father James Roosevelt I, and Warren, 1899

Warren Delano Robbins was born on September 3, 1885, in Brooklyn, New York and named after his maternal grandfather, Warren Delano Jr. He was the son of Katherine Robbins Delano (1860–1953) and Charles Albert Robbins (1854–1889). From his parents marriage, he had one sibling, sister Muriel Delano Robbins (wife of Cyril Edgar Martineau of London).[1][2][lower-alpha 1] After his father's death in 1889, his mother remarried to Hiram Price Collier, a Unitarian minister,[5] and they lived in a mansion in Tuxedo Park, New York.[6] From his mother's second marriage, he was the older half-brother of Sara Roosevelt Collier (wife of Englishman Charles Fellowes-Gordon)[4] and Katharine Price Collier, a Republican U.S. Representative[7] who in 1917 married George St. George, third son of the second Sir Richard St George, 2nd Baronet.[8]

His paternal grandfather was Daniel Robbins, one of the founders of McKesson, Robbins & Co.[3] His maternal grandfather was a wealthy and prominent merchant who lived in China during the 1830s and he was a direct descendant of Philip Delano, a Pilgrim who arrived in Plymouth, Massachusetts in 1621.[9] Among his large extended family was aunt Deborah Perry Delano (wife of William Howell Forbes) uncle Warren Delano IV, aunt Sara Ann Delano (wife of James Roosevelt I), and uncle Frederic Adrian Delano.[5]

After attending the Groton School, which was run by Rev. Endicott Peabody in Groton, Massachusetts (where his cousin Franklin, who was three and a half years older than him, also attended), he graduated from Harvard University in 1908.[10]

Career
Baron Moncheur, F.R. Coudert, and Robbins.
Photograph of Robbins, 1920

In 1909, Robbins began his nearly twenty-five year career with the State Department when he became a secretary on the staff of Charles Page Bryan, the United States Ambassador to Portugal. In subsequent years, he would work in a lower-level diplomatic function, including for Charles Sherrill in Argentina in 1909, France in 1911, and Guatemala in 1914.[11] Robbins received the decoration of Chevalier de l'Ordre de Leopold from the Belgian government for the service rendered to the mission.[12]

In 1916, he was briefly assigned to the Department of State's Division of Latin American Affairs before returning to Argentina in 1917 and then on to Chile in 1919. In 1921, he was promoted as Chief of the Division of Near Eastern Affairs, before serving in Germany (1922) and Italy (1925).[13]

In 1929, he was elevated to Minister and given his first post as Chief of Mission, in Salvador. (The country would change its name to El Salvador while he was at that post.) In 1930, he was made a White House ceremonial officer and, in 1931, was reassigned to the State Department as Chief of Protocol of the United States. In this role, he was responsible for greeting foreign dignitaries and other ceremonial duties.[14]

In 1933, Robbins was assigned as Chief of Mission to Canada, a position he held until shortly before his death.[10]

Personal life
Robbins and his wife, March 1922.

On September 3, 1910, Robbins was married to Irene de Bruyn (1887–1960),[15] a Belgian who was born and grew up in Buenos Aires, Argentina.[16] She was a daughter of Casimir de Bruyn,[17] banker, railroad man, and capitalist who was then the head of the Banco Franco-Argentina.[10] Together, they were the parents of:

  • Warren Delano Robbins Jr. (1911–1979),[18] who also went into the diplomatic service and served as attaché at the U.S. Embassy in Buenos Aires.[19]
  • Edward Hutchinson Robbins (1912–1944), who married Louise Auchincloss (1914–1974), a daughter of Gordon Auchincloss (and niece of U.S. Representative James C. Auchincloss), in 1935.[20][21] After his death, she married developer Allston Boyer in 1947.[22]
  • Irene Helen Robbins (b. 1914), who married Alexander Cochrane Forbes (1909–2005), a son of F. Murray Forbes (of Cabot, Cabot & Forbes) and first cousin of Alexander Cushing, in 1934.[23][24]

He was a member of the Tuxedo Club, the Knickerbocker Club and the Brook Club in New York. In Washington, he was a member of the Chevy Chase Club and Riding Club.[10]

Robbins died of pneumonia at the Doctors Hospital in New York City on April 7, 1935, aged 49.[10] After a service at the Church of the Incarnation, he was buried at Riverside Cemetery in Fairhaven, Massachusetts. In 1936, Robbins' widow served as a special assistant at the All-American Conference for Maintenance of Peace in Buenos Aires.[25] In 1937, Irene, an interior decorator, was appointed Assistant Chief of the State Department's Foreign Service Buildings Office, responsible for furnishing and decorating U.S. embassies, consulates and other facilities.[26][25] His widow died in Hyattsville, Maryland in 1960.[15]

Descendants

Through his eldest son, he was a grandfather of Warren Delano Robbins III, Elizabeth Robbins Hughes, Katharine Dudley Robbins.[18]

Through his son Edward, he was a grandfather of Janet Robbins (1934–1941), who died young, and Gordon Auchincloss Robbins (1942–2015),[27] a "sculptor, fly fisherman, nationally ranked board sailor and snowboarder, and coach of Olympic medalists."[27]

References
Notes
  1. At his sister Muriel Delano Robbins' 1907 wedding to Cyril Edgar Martineau (a Londoner whose family left France after the evocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685),[3] her brother Warren and cousin Franklin D. Roosevelt were among the ushers.[4]
Sources
  1. Times, Special to The New York (2 June 1907). "MISS ROBBINS A BRIDE.; Her Wedding to Cyril Martineau of London at Tuxedo Park". The New York Times. Retrieved 1 May 2020.
  2. "Paid Notice: Deaths MARTINEAU, CYRIL FRANCIS". The New York Times. 15 October 2000. Retrieved 1 May 2020.
  3. The Scrap Book. Frank A. Munsey Company. 1907. p. 699. Retrieved 1 May 2020.
  4. Harper, John Lamberton (1996). American Visions of Europe: Franklin D. Roosevelt, George F. Kennan, and Dean G. Acheson. Cambridge University Press. p. 19. ISBN 978-0-521-56628-5. Retrieved 1 May 2020.
  5. "Roosevelt Genealogy". www.fdrlibrary.marist.edu. Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum. Archived from the original on 1 March 2019. Retrieved 18 July 2018.
  6. of '81, Amherst College Class (1911). Thirty Years After: A Record of the Class of Eighty-one, Amherst College ... Tuttle, Morehouse & Taylor Company. p. 165. Retrieved 1 May 2020.
  7. "ST. GEORGE, Katharine Price Collier (1894-1983)". bioguideretro.congress.gov. Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Retrieved 27 January 2020.
  8. "ST. GEORGE, Katharine Price Collier". history.house.gov. US House of Representatives: History, Art & Archives. Retrieved 27 January 2020.
  9. Americana, American Historical Magazine. National American Society. 1919. p. 303. Retrieved 27 February 2019.
  10. "Warren D. Robbins Dies of Pneumonia; Our Minister to Canada and Cousin of the President Had Been Ill a Week" (fee). The New York Times. April 8, 1935. p. 19.
  11. "SHIFTING OUR ATTACHES.; President Sends Eight Diplomatic Nominations to the Senate". The New York Times. 13 May 1914. Retrieved 1 May 2020.
  12. of 1908, Harvard College (1780-) Class (1920). Secretary's Third Report. Harvard University. p. 391. Retrieved 1 May 2020.
  13. "Warren Delano Robbins - People - Department History". history.state.gov. Office of the Historian, Foreign Service Institute, United States Department of State. Retrieved 1 May 2020.
  14. Times, Special to The New York (6 June 1931). "ROBBINS IS NAMED CEREMONY CHIEF; He Will Have Charge of State Department and White House Events. RETAINS RANK OF MINISTER Stimson Explains Importance of New Post in Intercourse With Foreign Nations". The New York Times. Retrieved 1 May 2020.
  15. Special to The New York Times (9 May 1960). "Mrs. Warren Robbins". The New York Times. Retrieved 1 May 2020.
  16. "TAKES BRIDE IN BUENOS AYRES.; Warren Delano Robbins to Wed Miss Irene de Bruyn". The New York Times. 23 August 1910. Retrieved 1 May 2020.
  17. Special Cable to THE NEW YORK TIMES (11 April 1938). "CASIMIR DE BRUYN; Argentine Financier and Father of Mrs. W. D. Robbins". The New York Times. Retrieved 1 May 2020.
  18. "Deaths". The New York Times. 13 August 1979. Retrieved 1 May 2020.
  19. "Warren D. Robbins Returns". The New York Times. 25 January 1944. Retrieved 1 May 2020.
  20. "MISS AUCHINCLOSS TO WED E.H. ROBBINS; Betrothal to Son of Minister to Canada !s Announced by Gordon Auchinclosses". The New York Times. 26 May 1934. Retrieved 1 May 2020.
  21. "LOUISE AUCHINCLOSS TO BE BRIDE MAY 18; Wedding to Edward H. Robbins to Be Simple Ceremony in Locust Valley Church". The New York Times. 13 April 1935. Retrieved 1 May 2020.
  22. Smith, Richard Norton (2014). On His Own Terms: A Life of Nelson Rockefeller. Random House. p. 830. ISBN 978-0-375-50580-5. Retrieved 1 May 2020.
  23. Special to THE NEW YORK TIMES (29 November 1933). "MISS IRENE ROBBINS ENGAGED TO MARRY; Daughter of Diplomat, Who Is Cousin of President, Will Be Wed to A. C. Forbes. JVIADE DEBUT LAST YEAR Bowed at Court of St. James in SpringuFiance Is Graduate of Groton and Harvard". The New York Times. Retrieved 1 May 2020.
  24. Times, Special To The New York (11 February 1934). "BRILLIANT BRIDAL FOR IRENE ROBBINS; Daughter of Our Minister to Canada Married in Ottawa to Alexander Forbes. MRS, J. ROOSEVELT THERE President's Mother and Officials Greet Couple After Taking of Vows in Archbishop's Palace". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 10 October 2017. Retrieved 20 June 2017.
  25. Orr, Flora G. (22 August 1937). "A DECORATOR OF EMBASSIES; Mrs. Irene Robbins Will Devise Interiors for Uncle Sam's 200 Buildings Abroad". The New York Times. Retrieved 1 May 2020.
  26. TIMES, Special to THE NEW YORK (4 August 1937). "FEDERAL POSITION FOR MRS. ROBBINS; Widow of Roosevelt Cousin Is Named Assistant Chief of Foreign Service Buildings AN INTERIOR DECORATOR Frederick Larkin, 'Engineer for the Treasury, Becomes Head of the State Department Office". The New York Times. Retrieved 1 May 2020.
  27. "Paid Notice: Deaths ROBBINS, GORDON". The New York Times. March 8, 2015. Retrieved 1 May 2020.
Diplomatic posts
Preceded by
Jefferson Caffery		 United States Envoy to El Salvador
27 February 1929–30 April 1931		 Succeeded by
Charles B. Curtis
Preceded by
Hanford MacNider		 United States Envoy to Canada
1933–1935		 Succeeded by
Norman Armour
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