Charles G. D. Roberts

1860-1943

Charles George Douglas Roberts (poet, pioneer of the animal story, editor, historian, Canadian nationalist) was born on 10 January 1860 in Douglas, New Brunswick, a small rural community 10 kilometres west of Fredericton. Shortly after Roberts’ first birthday, his father was transferred to the parish of Westcock, near Sackville, where the family would remain for the next twelve years. While in Westcock, Roberts was home schooled. At the age of twelve, he published his first writings: a series of three articles on farming in The Colonial Farmer. In November 1873, the family moved back to Fredericton and the next year Charles joined his cousin, Bliss Carman, at Collegiate School. In 1875, Roberts graduated from Collegiate as a gold medalist and that fall he began studies at the University of New Brunswick (UNB). He graduated in 1879 with a Bachelor of Arts with honours in mental and moral science and political economy.  Roberts became principal of Chatham High School and Grammar School, a position he would hold for two years while completing his MA at UNB (1881). He published his first collection of poetry, Orion, and Other Poems in 1880. In 1881, accepted the principalship at York Street School in Fredericton, and in 1883 went to Toronto to become the first editor for magazine, The Week. In the summer of 1884, Roberts returned to Fredericton. A year later he was appointed Professor of English, economics and French at King’s College in Windsor, Nova Scotia. During the late 1880s he wrote a regular review column for the Saint John Progress entitled “The World of Books.” He also published his second and third collections of poetry: In Divers Tones (1886) and Songs of the Common Day (1893). In 1890, he produced an English translation of Aubert de Gaspé’s French-Canadian novel, Les Anciens Canadiens (1863) under the title, The Canadians of Old. He also published a travel guide, The Land of Evangeline and the Gateway Thither (1895).  His published the short story “Strayed,” which appeared in Harper’s Young People in 1889.  In 1895, he resigned his position at King’s College and returned to Fredericton. In 1896 he published his first novel, The Forge in the Forest, his fourth collection of poetry, The Book of the Native, his first book of nature-stories, Earth’s Enigmas, a few supernatural narratives, and local colour pieces; and a book of adventure stories for boys, Around the Campfire.  He went to New York in February 1897 and found work as an assistant editor for The Illustrated America (resigned in 1898).  In 1898, he produced a collection of love poems, New York Nocturnes, as well as his second Acadian novel, Sister to Evangeline (his last Acadian novel, Prisoner of Mademoiselle, appeared in 1904). Two years later, he published The Heart of the Ancient Wood.  Although his Collected Poems appeared in 1901, followed by The Book of the Rose in 1903, the bulk of Roberts’ writings during the New York years were fiction. In 1902, he published Barbara Ladd and The Kindred of the Wild.  In 1906, Roberts received an Honorary LLD from UNB and that same year he published The Heart That Knows. Roberts left for Europe in November 1907, and would not return to North America for eighteen years. In 1913 he published A Balkan Prince. During World War I, Lord Beaverbrook had commissioned a multi-volume set of histories that would record Canada’s role in the war, and in 1918 Roberts published Volume 3 of the series, Canada in Flanders. In 1919, he published New Poems, as well as a pre-historic tale, In the Morning of Time. At the age of 65 he departed for Canada on 5 February 1925. He eventually settled in Toronto. In 1926 he received the first Lorne Pierce Medal. In 1927, he published a new book of poetry, Vagrant of Time; that same year he was elected National President of the Canadian Authors Association.  In the early 1930s, he published a new collection of animal stories, Eyes of the Wilderness; he also began editorial work on Volume I of the Canadian Who Was Who biography project sponsored by Trans-Canada Press. In 1934, he published Iceberg, and Other Poems, a collection of modern lyrics; Selected Poems, chosen by Roberts, appeared two years later. On 3 June 1935, it was announced that Roberts would be knighted. In 1941, he published a collection of poems, Canada Speaks of Britain, followed by his edited anthology, Flying Colours in 1942; that same year he was awarded an Honorary doctorate from Mount Allison University. On 26 November 1943, Roberts died. The funeral took place in Toronto, but the following spring Lady Roberts brought his ashes to Fredericton, where he was interred in Forest Hill Cemetery.

Predominant New Brunswick Residences:

Fredericton, Westcock

Archival Material

• Charles G.D. Roberts fonds
  ⌄
  Location

  University of New Brunswick Archives & Special Collections

  Website/Catalogue Record

  View Archival Record

  Retrieval Number

  MG L 10

  Date Range of Material

  1859-1943; predominant 1883-1943

  Extent

  48 cm textual records
  10 photographs ; b&w and sepia tone ; 25.5 x 16.75 cm or smaller
  1 watercolour ; 20.5 x 15 cm

  Scope and Content Note

  This fonds documents the literary career of poet and prose writer Charles G.D. Roberts, which spanned more than six decades. It also reflects his activities both as an editor and a promoter of Canadian literature and Canadian writers. In addition, the fonds sheds light on his family life, his travels abroad, his years in the British and Canadian armies, his work with the Canadian Authors' Association, his financial difficulties, and his personal relationships. It also provides information about the literary careers of other members of the Roberts family, most notably, Theodore Goodridge Roberts and Lloyd Roberts. It contains correspondence, a family scrapbook, Roberts's notebook, and holograph and typescript poems, stories and essays by Roberts, Bliss Carman and other writers. The fonds also includes copies of published poems, essays and stories by Charles G.D. Roberts, Bliss Carman, Theodore Goodridge Roberts, Lloyd Roberts, and Dorothy Roberts Leisner as well as published articles about Charles G.D. Roberts and other members of the Roberts family.

• Elsie Pomeroy collection
  ⌄
  Location

  Mount Allison University Archives

  Website/Catalogue Record

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  Retrieval Number

  5001

  Date Range of Material

  1833-1968

  Extent

  2.2 m of textual records and other material

  Scope and Content Note

  Fonds consists mainly of records created and accumulated by Pomeroy as biographer and friend of author and poet Charles G.D. Roberts. Records document Roberts’ work, including his interests in the Tantramar area of New Brunswick, where he spent the majority of his childhood, and his relationship with Pomeroy. Subseries 4 entitled "Charles G.D. Roberts" consists of correspondence, photographs, unpublished and published work, promotional materials, and scrapbooks received or created by Charles G.D. Roberts, and artifacts that had belonged to him. It also includes tributes, memorials, and critiques of Roberts’ work collected by Elsie Pomeroy. The contents of the sub-series document the literary career and personal interests of Roberts and his relationship to his biographer, Pomeroy.  Date range is 1860-1960 and extent is 303 leaves, 15 envelopes, 47 volumes of textual records and graphic materials; 27 photographs; 1 sleeve; 1 frame; 3 objects.

• Charles George Douglas Roberts collection
  ⌄
  Location

  Library and Archives Canada

  Website/Catalogue Record

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  Retrieval Number

  R2256-0-3-E, MG30-D32

  Date Range of Material

  1893-[ca. 1960]

  Extent

  1.4 cm of textual records (68 p.)
  1 audio disc (12 min)

  Scope and Content Note

  Collection consists of letters discussing literary works and a manuscript of the short story A Night Encounter by Roberts. Collection also includes a sound recording of a poem of by Lloyd Roberts, member of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and brother of Charles George Douglas Roberts. The poem entitled "Remember Pearl Harbor" is read by Henry Falk.

• 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 Charles G.D. 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.
• Charles George Douglas Roberts fonds
  ⌄
  Location

  Queen's University Archives

  Website/Catalogue Record

  View Archival Record

  Retrieval Number

  F1384

  Date Range of Material

  1894-1942

  Extent

  0.35 m of textual records
  ca. 400 photographs
  7 microfilm reels

  Scope and Content Note

  The fonds consists of correspondence (1890-1941) to various friends and family, as well as his second wife Joan Montgomery; typescripts, manuscripts and reprints of various poems and prose works; legal papers; photographs of C.G.D. Roberts and his friends and family. Also includes letters from Roberts to M.O. Hammond, photographs, articles by Roberts, as well as microfilm copies of some of the University of New Brunswick's Roberts papers.