A three-quarter-length portrait, slightly to the left, showing Robinson seated in a wooden armchair in his rear-admiral's undress uniform, 1921-53, with his hands clasped.
Cloudesley Varyl Robinson entered the Navy as a cadet on 15 January 1897. As a midshipman in the cruiser HMS ‘Orlando’, he was on the China station at the time of the Boxer Rebellion in 1900; he was landed with dispatches for Peking. He was promoted sub-lieutenant on 15 April 1902 and lieutenant on 31 August the following year. Made lieutenant-commander on 31 August 1911, he was in the Grand Fleet in HMS ‘Achilles’ at the start of the war in 1914 and promoted commander at the end of that year. He took part in the operations at the Dardenelles in 1915 in HMS ‘Edgar’ and then commanded coastal patrol boats based on Osea Island in the Blackwater, Essex. He was mentioned in dispatches in 1917. In 1919, he was in command of the seaplane carrier HMS ‘Empress’.
Robinson was promoted captain on 30 June 1921 and was the senior naval officer at Singapore until 1923. From 1926 to 1929 he was the naval attaché at Tokyo and then Peking. He commanded the newly converted carrier HMS ‘Courageous’, 1931–32. He was promoted rear-admiral on 5 January 1933 and retired in 1934.
Robinson was recalled to duty during the Second World War. He became commodore (second class) as second in command of the naval air station between 1940 and 1943 and then flag officer air stations for the rest of the war, reverting to the retired list on 4 August 1945. He was made a KCB that year.