Born 18 August 1876 at Indianapolis, U.S.A., the only child of Peter Roberts, a native of Wales, and his wife Helen, daughter of Alexander Grey, of Stirling, Scotland. His parents moved to Jarvis, Ontario, in the Niagara peninsula a fruit farming district, and Roberts was educated at public and high schools at Jarvis, Niagara Falls, and Hamilton. He graduated in medicine from the University of Toronto in 1898, and afterwards became a Fellow of the University. He served with the Canadian contingent in the South African war in 1900-01, and then went to Europe for postgraduate study at Paris, Vienna, Berlin, and London; he also studied in New York. On his return to Canada he was appointed to the surgical staff of the Toronto General Hospital, rose to be surgeon to the hospital, and retired in 1925. During the first world war he served in France, at Salonika, and in England with the University of Toronto unit in the Canadian Army Medical Corps, with the rank of lieutenant-colonel, and became Inspector-General of Canadian Hospitals in England. He commanded in succession No 4 and No 15 Canadian General Hospitals, the Canadian Hospital at Basingstoke, and HRH the Duchess of Connaught's Hospital. He was one of eight Canadian officers to be created CB at the end of the war. He had been active in the Canadian militia continuously from 1894 and kept up this interest throughout his life. From 1919 to 1925 he practised privately at Toronto, and then he became assistant medical director of the Canada Life Assurance Company. From 1914 till 1929 he was a Fellow of the Academy of Medicine of Toronto. Roberts married in 1905 Muriel Mildred Stewart, niece of Sir William Otter, KCB. Mrs Roberts survived him with three sons, two of whom served with distinction in the Canadian Army in the second world war: Brigadier James Roberts, DSO, and Major Alexander Roberts; his only daughter died before him. Roberts died suddenly at 38 Charles Street East, Toronto, of a heart attack, on 23 July 1945, aged 68. Roberts was a keen sportsman and games-player, particularly fond of shooting in the northern forests of Ontario.