Lloyd Roberts

1884-1966

William Harris Lloyd Roberts was born in Fredericton, New Brunswick, 31 October 1884. He was the son of Mary Isabel Fenety and Charles G.D. Roberts. For most of his youth, Roberts lived in Windsor, Nova Scotia, where he was educated by private tutors and attended King’s Collegiate School. When he and his family moved back to Fredericton in 1895, he finished his education at Fredericton High School. In 1904, Roberts became the assistant editor for Outing Magazine in New York City. He then became an editorial writer for The National Encyclopedia of American Biography. In 1911, he moved back to Canada and started working as a newspaper reporter for the News in British Columbia. From 1913 to 1920, he worked for the Canadian civil service as the editor of immigration literature in Ottawa. In 1920, he retired to make writing his career, but he later returned to journalism and public service. From 1925 to 1939, he worked as a correspondent for the Christian Science Monitor. His final position was with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, for whom he acted as a liaison and public relations officer from 1939 to 1943. Roberts’ first book of published poetry, which contained thirty-two poems, was England Over Seas (1914). In 1923, he published The Book of Roberts, a book of essays that focuses on the Roberts family. In the next few decades, he published two more books of poetry, Along the Ottawa (1927) and I Sing of Life (1937), and wrote several plays, short stories, and articles. Roberts died in Toronto on 28 June 1966.

Predominant New Brunswick Residences:

Fredericton

Archival Material

• Lloyd Roberts family fonds
  ⌄
  Location

  University of New Brunswick Archives & Special Collections

  Website/Catalogue Record

  View Archival Record

  Retrieval Number

  MG L 5

  Date Range of Material

  1892-1949

  Extent

  19 cm textual records
  1 photograph ; b&w ; 7.5 x 4.7 cm

  Scope and Content Note

  This fonds documents the literary and personal activities of Lloyd Roberts and sheds light on his personal relationships with his father and other family members. The fonds also documents Charles G.D. Roberts's literary career, highlighting his business dealings with publishers and agents. This fonds contains personal letters to Lloyd or Charles G.D. Roberts and holograph and typescript copies of poems by them. It also includes their literary notebooks and copies of their published works, as well as Charles G.D. Roberts's royalty statements, correspondence from his publishers, his literary agreements, and clippings about his literary activities. The fonds also includes a very few typescript, holograph, or published copies of works by Bliss Carman, Theodore Goodridge Roberts, Leila Roberts, and other writers.

• Roberts family fonds
  ⌄
  Location

  Library and Archives Canada

  Website/Catalogue Record

  View Archival Record

  Retrieval Number

  R11797-0-X-E, LMS-0127

  Date Range of Material

  1890-1966

  Extent

  80 cm of textual records and other material

  Scope and Content Note

  Fonds includes letters, poems, memorabilia, posters, floor plans, photographs and clippings by and about Roberts and members of his family: his sister Elizabeth Roberts MacDonald (1864-1922), his brother Theodore Goodridge Roberts (1877-1953), his son Lloyd Roberts (1884-1966), his son Douglas H.B. Roberts (1888-1974), his daughter Edith A.B. Roberts (1886-?), his niece Dorothy Roberts (1906-?), and his biographer, Elsie Pomeroy. Most of the material was found folded up in the books which formed the major part of the National Library's acquisition.`