Stephen Roberts (historian)
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Stephen Frederick Roberts (1958 - July 2022) was an historian of nineteenth-century Britain who wrote extensively about Chartism and Birmingham in the Victorian era.[1] He was educated at Bishop Vesey's Grammar School in Sutton Coldfield and the University of Birmingham, from where he held B.A. and M.Litt. degrees. At the University of Birmingham he was taught by the leading historian of Chartism, Dorothy Thompson, who had been a major influence on his work. This is reflected in the co-editing of a festschrift for Thompson entitled 'The Duty of Discontent' (1995), a collaboration with her on a collection of contemporary illustrations entitled 'Images of Chartism' (1998) and the editing of a posthumous collection of her writings entitled 'The Dignity of Chartism' (2015).
Born in
Roberts has been described as an example of that increasingly rare phenomenon - the schoolteacher-scholar. For thirty years he held a teaching post at
Roberts spoke about the Chartists on BBC Radio 3, BBC Radio 4 and Radio WM. Since 2015 he had been visiting fellow at the Australian National University.[2]
Biography
Roberts was born in Sutton Coldfield in 1958 in the West Midlands of the United Kingdom. He attended the University of Birmingham, where he would complete a Master of Letters on Thomas Cooper.[3]
Roberts was the author of two monographs on Chartism: 'Radical Politicians and Poets in Early Victorian Britain' (1993)[4] and 'The Chartist Prisoners' (2008). He also wrote, with Owen Ashton, a study of working class authorship entitled 'The Victorian Working Class Author' (1999) and has edited, with Owen Ashton and Robert Fyson, a bibliography entitled 'The Chartist Movement' and a collection of essays entitled 'The Chartist Legacy' (1999). Roberts has also looked at these times from the other side of the political spectrum, editing, with Mark Acton, a collection of material relating to the colourful ultra-Tory MP for Lincoln, Charles Sibthorp.
Roberts' interest in a biographical approach to writing history was reflected also in his work on Victorian Birmingham. His series 'Birmingham Biographies' (www.birmingham-biographies) sought to recover the stories of Birmingham politicians and businessmen who have been overshadowed by
Publications on Chartism
- 'Radical Politicians and Poets in Early Victorian Britain' (Mellen, 1993)
- 'The Chartist Movement, A New Annotated Bibliography' (Continuum, 1995)
- 'The Duty of Discontent: Essays for Dorothy Thompson' (Continuum, 1995)
- 'Images of Chartism' (Merlin, 1998)
- 'The Victorian Working Class Writer' (Continuum, 1999)
- 'The Chartist Legacy' (Merlin, 1999)
- 'The People's Charter' (Merlin, 2003)
- 'The Chartist Prisoners' (Lang, 2008)
- 'The Dignity of Chartism' (2015)
Publications on Victorian Birmingham
- 'Dr. J.A.Langford' (2014)
- 'Sir Benjamin Stone' (2014)
- 'Mocking Men of Power' (2014)
- 'Sir Richard Tangye' (2015)
- 'Joseph Chamberlain's Highbury' (2015)
- 'Now Mr Editor!' (2015)
- 'Joseph Gillott' (2016)
- 'Birmingham 1889' (2017)
Publications on Victorian Lincoln
- 'The Parliamentary Career of Charles de Laet Waldo Sibthorp' (2010)
References
- ^ "BBC - History - British History in depth: The Chartist Movement 1838 - 1848".
- ^ "Mr Hon. Assoc. Prof. Stephen Roberts". The Australian National University.
- ^ "Stephen Frederick Roberts (1958-2022)". 14 September 2022.
- OCLC 29668454– via Open WorldCat.
External links
- Chartism & The Chartists, musings, information & illustrations about the Chartists from Stephen Roberts