Editing Lionel Robbins (section)

==Early life==
Robbins was born in [[Sipson]], west of London, the son of [[Rowland Richard Robbins]] (1872–1960), known as Dick, and his wife Rosa Marion Harris;<ref>{{cite book |last1=Howson |first1=Susan |title=Lionel Robbins |date=30 September 2011 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-139-50109-5 |page=11 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RZc97n5iL30C&pg=PA11 |language=en}}</ref> his father was a farmer, a member of [[Middlesex County Council]] involved also in the [[National Farmers' Union of England and Wales|National Farmers' Union]], and the family was [[Strict Baptist]].<ref name="ODNB">{{cite ODNB|id=31612|first=Susan|last=Howson|title=Robbins, Lionel Charles, Baron Robbins}}</ref> His sister [[Caroline Robbins|Caroline]] became a noted Professor of History at [[Bryn Mawr College]].<ref name=caroline>{{cite ODNB|id=72015|first=J. R.|last=Pole|title=Robbins, Caroline (1903–1999)}}</ref>

Robbins was educated at home, at Hounslow College (a [[Preparatory school (United Kingdom)|preparatory school]]) and at [[Southall County School]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Howson |first1=Susan |title=Lionel Robbins |date=30 September 2011 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-139-50109-5 |page=19 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RZc97n5iL30C&pg=PA19 |language=en}}</ref>  He went to [[University College London]] in October 1915, beginning an Arts degree and attending lectures by [[W. P. Ker]], the medievalist [[Francis Charles Montague]], and [[A. F. Pollard]]. Wishing to serve in [[World War I]], he began training in early 1916 at [[Topsham, Devon]].  He was in the [[Royal Field Artillery]] as an officer from August 1916 to 1918, when he was wounded by a sniper on 12 April in the [[Battle of the Lys (1918)|Battle of the Lys]] and returned home with the rank of lieutenant.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Howson |first1=Susan |title=Lionel Robbins |date=30 September 2011 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-139-50109-5 |pages=27–48 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RZc97n5iL30C&pg=PA27 |language=en}}</ref>

During the war Robbins became interested in [[guild socialism]], reading in [[G. D. H. Cole]] and by personal contact with Reginald Lawson, a connection from the Harris side of the family.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Howson |first1=Susan |title=Lionel Robbins |date=30 September 2011 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-139-50109-5 |page=41 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RZc97n5iL30C&pg=PA41 |language=en}}</ref> Through [[Clive Gardiner]], an artist commissioned by Dick Robbins in 1917 to paint his son's portrait, Robbins met first [[Alfred George Gardiner]], Clive's father, and then his ally the activist [[James Joseph Mallon]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Howson |first1=Susan |title=Lionel Robbins |date=30 September 2011 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-139-50109-5 |pages=37, 55, 58 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RZc97n5iL30C&pg=PA37 |language=en}}</ref> After his convalescence and 1919 demobilisation from the army, Robbins was employed for about a year by the Labour Campaign for the Nationalization of the Drink Trade, a position found with Mallon's help. The campaign was an offshoot of the [[State Management Scheme]] set up during the war, and Robbins worked in [[Mecklenburgh Square]], London for Mallon and [[Arthur Greenwood]].<ref name="ODNB" /><ref>{{cite book |last1=Howson |first1=Susan |title=Lionel Robbins |date=30 September 2011 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-139-50109-5 |pages=59–60 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RZc97n5iL30C&pg=PA59 |language=en}}</ref>

In 1920, Robbins resumed studies at the [[London School of Economics]] (LSE), where he was taught by [[Harold Laski]], [[Edwin Cannan]] and [[Hugh Dalton]]. He graduated B.Sc. (Econ) in 1923 with first class honours.<ref name="ODNB"/> Dalton's biographer [[Ben Pimlott]] wrote that Robbins was the "most promising student of his generation at the L.S.E."<ref name="Pimlott">{{cite book |last1=Pimlott |first1=Ben |title=Hugh Dalton |publisher=Macmillan |isbn=978-0-333-41251-0 |page=160 |date=1985 |language=en}}</ref>