John Shearwood Roberts

John Shearwood Roberts was born on the 6th March 1833, the eldest son of Sidney and Sarah Roberts. His second Christian name is taken from his mother's maiden name. His father Sidney was a silversmith and silver plater. There is a reference in Frederick Bradbury's A History of Old Sheffield Plate of Sidney going into partnership in 1826 (when Sidney was 22) with Samuel Roberts, Evan Smith and William Sissons in a firm called Roberts, Smith & Co. Sidney, Evan and William had all trained in silver plate at the Eyre Street business of Samuel Roberts who was by this time 63 years old.

Sidney's father Jacob was the the third in three generations of cutlers (my blog posting of 28th August 2008) and was running his Uncle Samuel's Union Street business until he died at the age of 56 in 1820. Jacob had married Mary Ann Morton, the daughter of the prosperous silversmith Richard Morton, in 1793. I have copies of letters from Mary to her husband from 1814 and 1816.

So when John Shearwood Roberts was born in 1833, his father was in the 1826 ten year partnership. John never knew his grandfather Jacob, but his grandmother Mary lived a comfortable life until she died at the age of 79 in 1849. She and her husband Jacob are buried in the family tomb in Ecclesall Churchyard (see posting 22nd June 2009).

The next we know about John and his parents is the 1841 Census when they are living in Hanover Street in Ecclesall. They have one servant living with them, a twenty year old housemaid. John is 8 years old and his father is 36. His occupation is stated as living off independent means. It seems that the partnership had run it's course and Sidney had retired from the proceeds. He is also stated as a retired silver plater in the 1851 Census.

John did well enough at school to be able to go to St Andrew's University in Edinburgh where he graduated as a doctor. He became a Member of The Royal College of Surgeons and a Licentiate of The Royal College of Physicians (Edinburgh and London). He married Ellen Littlewood in 1855 (his father Sidney again stated as a "Gentleman"). In the 1851 census, John is living with his wife and already four children and two servants in Owlerton. At this time he is practicing as a surgeon, probably as surgeon accoucher at Sheffield Public Hospital, later Sheffield Royal Hospital.

At some point he set up practice at 356 Glossop Road and the family lived there for some considerable time. John also became interested in property and eventually amassed a considerable amount of property, including numerous houses, pubs and farms in Sheffield and other districts. The indenture to his will that splits the properties between his six children runs to 37 pages. The Fifth Schedule of properties assured to my Great Grandfather Vincent alone numbers 24 Freehold Hereditaments and 2 Leaseholds. Item 1 of these comprises four dwellinghouses in Pond Street and another four at the rear. Items 4 and 5 are large houses where Vincent lived, 30 Psalter Lane in Ecclesall and Chippingham House in Attercliffe Road where Vincent practised as a doctor. Items 9 and 11 are farms near Bradfield. Like any landowner or property magnet, John was not always a popular man.

In later years he owned and moved to Newfield Hall in Ecclesall, which was left to his son Charles Augustus Roberts. It was there that the father of my distant cousin and correspondent Nigel Buchanan ( to whom I am indebted for so much of this information) used to go to copy out and update registers of deeds for JSR. John's wife Ellen left him in later years to live near her son John Shearwood Roberts junior. At the 1911 Census she is living with a housekeeper at Rosebury Gardens, Crouch End. She died aged 79 in 1914 and was buried in Highgate Cemetary. John died a year later aged 82 and is buried in the Roberts tomb in Ecclesall churchyard.