Background
Roberts was born in London and educated in Guernsey.
Roberts was born in London and educated in Guernsey.
He became a sailor and then travelled to Queensland in 1886. Although he initially opposed the sending of South Australian troops to the Second Boer War in 1899, in early 1900 he served as a lieutenant with the 4th Imperial Bushmen"s Contingent there. He returned in July 1901, resigned his seat and helped organise the 2nd Battalion, Australian Commonwealth Horse.
He returned to western Transvaal in mid-1902 as a captain.
After his return to Australia, he edited the Labor Weekly Herald from 1904 to 1908. He was an honorary minister in the second Fisher Ministry, representing the Minister for Defence in the House of Representatives from October 1911 to 1913 and was acting Minister for Defence in 1911 while George Pearce was visiting England.