Father of Lydia Robinson.

Thomas Gisborne, father of Lydia Robinson

The Reverend Thomas Gisborne was known as a divine and a poet. He was a lifelong friend of the anti-slavery campaigner William Wilberforce having studied together at St. John's College, Cambridge along with Thomas Babington whose family seat was Rothley Temple in Leicestershire.

Gisborne married Thomas Babington's sister Mary in 1784, a year after he was ordained as a priest. They settled down at Yoxall Lodge which he had inherited from his father a few years earlier along with a considerable amount of money.

The Rev Thomas and Mary Gisborne led a content and happy life at Yoxall Lodge producing eight children but their youngest daughter Lydia was to scandalise society by conducting an affair with Branwell Brontë, brother of the Brontë sisters.

William Wilberforce became a regular visitor to Yoxall Lodge from about 1794 making it his summer residence and convalescing there after bouts of ill health.

The large and comfortable house gave Wilberforce and Thomas Babington the perfect retreat from which to work on the abolition of the slave trade.

Unfortunately, the old house was pulled down in 1928 after falling into a state of disrepair.

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Gisborne