▶Date of birth:  July 1820        Place of birth: Denbign, Denbighshire

▶Father:  Edward Roberts     Mother: Mary Evans

▶Spouse(s): Catherine Lloyd     Date(s) of marriage:  1849     Place(s) of marriage: Llanfair Caereinion, Montgomeryshire

▶Occupation: Clergyman (Wesleyan Methodist minister)

▶Lifestory: The Revd. John Roberts was said to have been “one of the most highly-gifted and exemplary ministers of the Wesleyan Methodist connexion”. He trained for the Methodist ministry in Surrey before returning to Wales and then to circuits in the Midlands and north of England; he came to Cheltenham as Circuit Superintendent, hoping to recruit his health. Roberts was born Denbigh in Wales in 1820, the only child of Edward Roberts, a labourer, and his wife Mary (née Evans), of Llanasa, Flintshire. Sober and earnest, Roberts joined the Methodist Society in 1832, just twelve, and began to preach church in 1839. He was examined for the Wesleyan ministry in 1843 at Dolgelly, and for three years trained at the Richmond College in Surrey.

At this point he expected to be appointed to the Llangollen circuit, as arranged by the North Wales District Meeting, but this decision was overruled and he was assigned to the Alston circuit, on the Cumberland borders. He enquired whether he might be re-assigned to a Welsh circuit, but was informed that he was confirmed to the Alston station, where he remained for the following three years. He is said to have married Catherine, daughter of John and Margaret Lloyd, at Llanfair Caereinion, Montgomeryshire, in 1849.

In the same year he attended the Methodist Conference, where he was ordained and appointed to the Coventry circuit for three years (he lived with his wife at Foleshill in the 1851 census), then to Liverpool. In 1857 he became a circuit minister at Derby, then to West Bromwich, after which he moved in 1861 to Newcastle-upon-Tyne (West) for three years; “in each of these important circuits he has left nothing but a fragrant memory”.

Remaining in the north of England, he became Superintendent at Huddersfield (Queen Street) 1864-6, followed by spells in charge at Barnsley 1867-8, Birmingham (New Town Row) 1870-2, Manchester (Oldham Street) 1873-5, Sheffield (Norfolk Street) 1876-7, and in London (Southwark) 1879, where his health collapsed, and he left after a year. He then moved north again, as Superintendent at Halifax (St John’s), but the work proved too much for him, and he could only stay for a year.

By 1881 he had become President of the Wesleyan Mutual Improvement Society, and in the same year took charge of the Cheltenham district, hoping that the spa air would improve his health; he is recorded as preaching at St George’s Street Chapel in the town in 1882. In 1882 and 1883 he joined a succession of Wesleyan Superintendent Ministers who lived overall for some forty-five years (1871-1916) at 27 Clarence Square, Pittville, but his health was failing and he had to resign his ministership, attending his final Methodist Conference as a Supernumerary.

Roberts moved to Shrewsbury, but died there soon afterwards, in late 1882, at 3 Brighton Terrace, Cherry Orchard, at the age of sixty-two. His wealth at probate was recorded as just over £500.

▶Moved to Pittville from:  Halifax      Moved from Pittville to: Shrewsbury

▶Date of death: 28 December 1882       Place of death: Shrewsbury

▶Date of burial:         Place of burial: Shrewsbury

▶Notes: Joseph Hall, Hall's circuits and ministers; an alphabetical list of the circuits in Great Britain, with the names of the ministers stationed in each circuit; together with the appointments to departments and other offices from 1765 to 1912 (1914); Shrewsbury Chronicle 2 February 1883       ID: 5630

Contributor(s):  John Simpson