The name Ashbeys Galleries has been known in Cape Towns Art and Antiques circles since 1891, the year that Edwin Rivers Ashbey started his small Picture Framing and Artists Materials Shop in Whitehall at the corner of Burg Street and Greenmarket Square. The business then changed hands in 1914 to the Robinson family; Morris Robinson continued until he handed over the reins to his son Basil Robinson in 1946, upon his return from the war.