Edward Robert Robson, architect and surveyor, was born in Durham on the 2nd March 1835. Early in his career Robson worked in the office of George Gilbert Scott which introduced him to Gothic architecture. In 1858 Robson travelled through Europe before setting up a partnership in London as well as being appointed the architect to Durham cathedral. Robson left Durham in 1864 and became surveyor to the corporation of Liverpool, a post he held until 1871. During that period he undertook a number of works that included the erection of a great Gothic screen wall in Stanley Park, Anfield (1868-71).
In 1871 Robson left for London to become surveyor for the newly created school board, a post he held until 1884. During that time he was reponsible for nearly 300 new schools that were often built in the English Renaissance style. Robson also spent the latter quarter of the 19th-century undertaking the private commissions and projects that had largely eluded him during his career. He built the People's Palace in the Mile End Road (1886), the New Art Gallery, Regent Street (1888), and the Jews' Free School in Spitalfields (1904-5).
Robson died at his home, 2 The Paragon, Blackheath, Kent, on the 19th January 1917.