Robinson gave a solemn service before they left and planned to join them at a later date. He was to have accompanied the second wave of Pilgrims but died in Leiden and a memorial plaque attached to St Pieterkirk Church states that John Robinson was 'Buried under this House of Worship on March 4, 1625.

John Robinson (1576–1625) was the pastor of the "Pilgrim Fathers" before they left on the Mayflower. He became one of the early leaders of the English Separatists called Brownists, and is regarded (along with Robert Browne and Henry Barrow) as one of the founders of the Congregational Church.

Robinson was considered a major force in New Testament studies and in shaping liberal Christian theology. Along with the Harvard theologian Harvey Cox, he spearheaded the field of secular theology and, like William Barclay, was a believer in universal salvation.

John Robinson (born c. 1575, Sturton-le-Steeple, Nottinghamshire, Eng. —died March 1, 1625, Leiden, Neth.) was an English Puritan minister called the pastor of the Pilgrim Fathers for his guidance of their religious life before their journey to North America aboard the “Mayflower” in 1620.