Robinson, Howard Waterhouse (1913–2000), chartered accountant and banker, was born 21 September 1913 in Dublin, second child among three sons and two daughters of Ernest St Clair Robinson (1882–1947), barrister at law, of Glenageary, Co. Dublin, and Lillian (‘Dolly’) Robinson (née Waterhouse). He attended Kingstown school, St Andrew's College, Dublin, and TCD, where he obtained a first-class moderatorship (with a gold medal) in legal science, in addition to bachelor of commerce and bachelor of law degrees. He worked in Craig Gardner & Co. (1932–44), qualified as a chartered accountant in Dublin (1936), and became a founding partner in the firm Polden Robinson & Co., where he worked 1944–66. In 1953 he published Irish statute law relating to income tax surtax and corporation profits tax. In the early 1960s he returned to TCD to undertake a Ph.D. thesis under the supervision of F. S. L. Lyons (qv). This was later published as A history of accountants in Ireland (1964). In 1965 he became president of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Ireland.
His greatest contribution to Irish business was his creation of the City of Dublin Bank, which he built out of a hire-purchase company, Irish Buyway, which had initially been set up for Autocars, the motor dealers, in about 1950. In 1964 the bank became part of Irish Financial Holdings Ltd, of which Robinson was a director. City of Dublin Bank was floated on the stock exchange in 1971, the third Irish bank to be floated, after Bank of Ireland and Allied Irish Banks. In January 1971, 117 Holdings (Ire.) Ltd purchased City of Dublin Bank in conjunction with Slater Walker, each holding 20 per cent. In 1975 the company purchased part of Irish Bank of Commerce, and in December 1978 Anglo-Irish Bank was bought for £100,000. In December 1986 City of Dublin Bank changed its name to Anglo-Irish Bank Corporation, and approximately at the same time Robinson stepped down from the bank's board. Anglo-Irish Bank retained City of Dublin Bank's focus as a corporate lender with a minimal high-street presence. Robinson served on the board of many companies, including (1959–71) Irish Times Ltd. From 1967 to 1973 he sat as a representative of the university senate on the council of Dublin University. He was also chairman of Irish Financial Holdings Ltd and Irish International Investment Trust Ltd, and a director of the Brown Thomas group.
Sometime honorary treasurer of the Irish Red Cross Society, Robinson was also a member of the representative body and general synod of the Church of Ireland. In this capacity he made detailed studies of the demographic trends and retirement and recruitment patterns affecting the Church of Ireland. His warning of the inadequacy of existing pension funding led to appropriate corrective action. Robinson was also influential within the Incorporated Society for Promoting Protestant Schools in Ireland. He was involved in reorganising the management of its schools, and supported the transfer to the state of Mountjoy and Cork grammar schools, later to be renamed Mount Temple and Ashton comprehensive schools. However, he was also concerned about the effect of state comprehensive and vocational schools as a factor in the survival of the Church of Ireland in the Republic, given the duty of the catholic partner in a mixed marriage to bring the children up as catholics. In a letter published in the Church of Ireland Gazette (June 1969), he called on the protestant bishops to state their position on the proposed transfer of schools to the state. After residing in south Dublin, Robinson lived and travelled abroad from 1983 to 1998, returning to a house in Rathnew, Co. Wicklow, to see out his final years. He died 2 February 2000.
He married (1937) Lucy MacPherson Douglas (d. 29 October 1956) of Dublin, daughter of Joseph A. Douglas, national school teacher, of Balbriggan, Co. Dublin; they had four sons. Their third son, Nicholas, married Mary Bourke, later to be president of Ireland (1990–97). Another son, Michael, served on the board of both City of Dublin Bank and Irish Buyway.