William Robinson (1838-1935) was an Irish practical gardener and journalist whose ideas about wild gardening spurred the movement that evolved into the English cottage garden, a parallel to the search for honest simplicity and vernacular style of the British Arts and Crafts movement. Robinson's new approach to gardening gained popularity through his magazines and several books, particularly The Wild Garden and The English Flower Garden. He began his garden work at an early age, as a garden boy for the Marquess of Waterford at Curggaghmore. In 1866, he became a fellow of the Linnean Society. In 1871, he launched his own gardening journal, simply named The Garden. Robinson also published God's Acre Beautiful; or, The Cemeteries of the Future, in which he applied his gardening aesthetic to urban churchyards and cemeteries. His campaign included trying to win an unwilling public to the advantages of cremation over burial. His other works include Gleanings From French Gardens (1868).

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