Samuel E. Roberts

Samuel Edward Roberts (5 November 1824 – 23 September 1905) was a printer and publisher in Adelaide.

History

Roberts was born in the Old Fleet Market (now Farringdon Street) London, a son of Samuel Edward Roberts (c. 1790 – 20 December 1869) and was educated at the Grammar School at Tonbridge, Kent, and the City of London School, then served a seven-year apprenticeship in London as a compositor.[1] He emigrated to South Australia aboard Symmetry, arriving in Adelaide in November 1848 after a long voyage of 147 days. His intention was to take up sheepfarming, but circumstances dictated otherwise, and he found employment as a printer. In February 1852 he joined the rush to the Victorian goldfields, where he was moderately successful and returned to Adelaide late thst same year.[1]

He returned to his trade, working as a journeyman printer until June 1855, when he went into business on his own account on Currie Street, roughly opposite Leigh Street,[2] later moved to Gawler Place; it was at this time he published The South Australian Horticulturist and Magazine of Agriculture, Botany and Natural History, edited by J. F. Wood FHS.[3] He sold up to J. T. Shawyer in March 1856,[4] and took up farming on the River Light, near Kapunda, supplementing his income by carting copper ore with a bullock team from Burra to Gawler until 1862, when the Copper Company began employing their own teams. Roberts entered the Government service in 1863, and remained there till 1865, when he took over G. Dehane's stationery business at King William Street,[1] opposite White's Rooms. From January 1867 he accepted the job of printing the weekly Pasquin; from June he acted also as business manager for its founder and editor E. R. Mitford. The paper was only two years old when Mitford died, and did not long outlast him; its last issue was published on New Year's Eve 1870.

In mid-1872 he moved his business to 64 Hindley Street. Later that year he was proven insolvent and the whole of his printing plant was liquidated by auction.[5] In the Northern Territory boom year 1873 to 1874 worked as a sharebroker, before briefly returning to the Government Printing Office. He was appointed local director of the Palmerston Goldmining Company, but on arriving in Darwin found the company was in liquidation, and after tying up some loose ends returned to Adelaide. He worked briefly in the offices of The Register and The Advertiser, then in 1880 again entered the Government Printing Office, where he remained until he retired late in 1904. He died three days after passing into a coma from which he never regained consciousness.

Family

Samuel Edward Roberts married Ruth Wylde (c. 1833 – 4 May 1901) on 18 December 1850. Their family included:

They had a home in Devon street, Goodwood.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Concerning People". The Register (Adelaide). LXX, (18,368). South Australia. 26 September 1905. p. 4. Retrieved 11 March 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
  2. ↑ "Advertising". South Australian Register. XIX, (2723). South Australia. 14 June 1855. p. 1. Retrieved 11 March 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
  3. ↑ Wood, J. F., FHS (March 1856), The South Australian horticulturist : and magazine of agriculture, botany and natural history, S.E. Roberts, retrieved 11 March 2017 The magazine went to at least four monthly issues.
  4. ↑ "Advertising". South Australian Register. XX, (2939). South Australia. 4 March 1856. p. 1. Retrieved 11 March 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
  5. ↑ "Advertising". The South Australian Advertiser. South Australia. 10 December 1872. p. 4. Retrieved 11 March 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
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