Author: Roberts, Mary
Biography:
ROBERTS, Mary (1798-1882: ancestry.co.uk)
She was baptised on 28 Nov. 1798 at Sheffield Cathedral, the second daughter of Samuel Roberts (q.v.) and his wife Elizabeth Wright. Her father was a major civic and intellectual force in Sheffield for over fifty years and a close friend of James Montgomery (q.v.). He developed a highly profitable silver-plating business but was known as the "Pauper’s Advocate." He was active in a wide variety of social causes and often wrote pamphlets in support: abolition of capital punishment and slavery, protection of child labour (particularly chimney-sweeps and silk factory workers), Chartism, Poor Laws, and much else. He also shared his daughter’s passion for Mary Queen of Scots and built a large mansion at Park Grange with a castellated "Queen’s Tower." After the deaths of their mother in 1829 and their father in 1848, the three sisters, Elizabeth, Mary, and Jane, continued to live in the mansion and all died there. With her sister Elizabeth, Mary continued her father’s civic activities. Both were district visitors, held an annual Christmas Dinner for working men and their families, and gave money to a wide variety of causes. She died on 8 Nov. 1882 at Park Grange, Sheffield Park. She is sometimes confused with her cousin Mary Roberts (1786-1864), a writer on natural history. (ancestry.co.uk 24 Mar. 2021; "Roberts, Samuel," ODNB 24 Mar. 2021; Newsam 146-8; Sheffield Independent 18 Jul. 1829, 29 Jul. 1848, 1 May 1866, 11 Nov. 1882; Sheffield Daily Telegraph 19 June 1885) AA