Gertrude Gertie Walsh Mrs. Robinson

A common bond in mountaineering turned into a personal relationship, and in 1912 they were married. They had two children a daughter, Marion (bom 1921) and an invalid son, Michael (bom 1926). Robinson s first post was at the University 

[Robinson] took over Perkin s office and laboratory, wisely allotting two benches to his wife. Mrs Robinson was probably the hardest worker of us all. She arrived at 9 am., left at 1 pm and then put in a 2.15—7 pm afternoon.55 

Walsh drove around Oxford in her Standard 12 car, as Smith recalled Mrs. (Gertrude) Robinson was not a good driver she not only forgot to wear her glasses, but she sat so low that she peered through the steering-wheel. One was often surprised at the positions in which her car stood outside the D. P. [Dyson Perrins Laboratory]. 56 

As Walsh and Robinson did not have a crushing machine to extract the flower pigments, they put the plants in a pile, covered them with boards, and then drove one of their cars backwards and forwards over them.57 The extractions were usually performed using ether (ethoxyethane) as a solvent, which was often contaminated by highly explosive peroxo compounds. One particular explosion involved Walsh, as Smith remembered  

In 1938 there was a shattering explosion on the top floor while I was demonstrating below. Senior assistant ( Gertie ) Miller and I rushed upstairs and found Mrs. Robinson on the floor, her face covered with blood and pieces of glass. Miller, the unflappable, quickly did all that we dared and quickly took her to the Oxford Eye Hospital. Fortunately there was no glass in the eyes, but many pieces were removed from the face.58 

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