In 1920 he travelled to the Veterinary High School, Berne where he obtained his doctoral degree of Dr. Med. Vet. for his thesis titled "The carrier in bovine contagious abortion". Upon returning to South Africa, he was placed in charge of the Allerton Veterinary Laboratory, Pietermaritzburg where he stayed until 1922. While at Allerton he conducted research on the serology of trypanasomias, which he later continued at the Onderstepoort Veterinary Faculty. In 1922 he was appointed Lecturer in Bacteriology at the Veterinary Faculty at Onderstepoort. He held this position until 1928 when he was appointed Professor of infectious diseases until his retirement at the end of 1951. Alongside his academic duties, he earned the degree of Doctor of Veterinary Science from the University of South Africa for his thesis titled "The bacteria of the Clostridium botulinum C and D types". In 1929 he was also director of the Bacterial Vaccine Section at Onderstepoort and in 1931 he was appointed as Sub-Director of Veterinary Services. In 1947 he rose to the rank of Assistant Director and in April 1951 to the rank of Deputy Director.
Marriage
Robinson married Miss Bergit Osmundsen on 18 June 1924 and of the two children born of this marriage, John Robinson graduated as a veterinarian at Onderstepoort in 1949. Britha married D.C.L. Wacher, who was also a graduate of Onderstepoort. Mrs Robinson died in July 1949 and on 15 December 1951 Eric remarried to Miss Dorothy Amy Proctor.
Retirement
On 31 December 1956, Robinson retired from his duties with the Onderstepoort faculty, but served as a temporary State Veterinarian until 31 March 1958 when he retired and joined the South African Bureau of Standards as a temporary Assistant Technical Officer. He remained in this position until his final retirement in January 1960 whereafter he settled down at Knysna. That same year he established the first private veterinary practice in Knysna, and in 1977, when a younger colleague also established himself there, he was happy to step down from active practice and to concentrate on animal welfare duties. He had served as an animal welfare inspector from 1970 to 1977.
Public offices and awards
1931 - President of the South African Biological society
1932 - President of Section C of the South African Association for the advancement of Science
1935 - Member of the Council of the South African Veterinary Association
1981 - Awarded the Paul Harris award for his services to Rotary
Death and autobiography
Robinson died in Knysna on 28 June 1982 having just completed writing up his life history in a manuscript three days before. His students remember him as being a quiet, gentlemanly and respected teacher.
