Samuel Roberts

Samuel Roberts (6 March 1800 – 24 September 1885), or simply S.R., was a Welsh minister, known also as a political and economic writer. He was involved in an attempt to set up a Welsh colony in Tennessee, but this was disrupted by the American Civil War.

Early life

He was the eldest son of the minister John Roberts, born on 6 March 1800 at the chapel-house, Llanbrynmair, Montgomeryshire. He was taught until he was ten by his father, and subsequently at a school at Shrewsbury, after which he worked on his father's farm, and acquired a knowledge of shorthand.

After preaching for his father's church around 1819, Roberts went to the dissenting academy kept by George Lewis (1763–1822), first at Llanfyllin, and later at Newtown, where he remained for six years. In April 1826 he was invited to become assistant pastor to his father, and was ordained 15 August 1827. He succeeded in 1834 to the sole charge of the church, together with eight chapels of ease. He attended them all, with the assistance of his brother John Roberts (1804–1884).

Roberts advocated free trade, opposing the Corn Laws. He was an early advocate of Welsh disestablishment, and in 1834–35 organised a drive by Welsh independent churches to pay their chapel debts. In 1840–41 he engaged in controversy with Lewis Edwards on presbyterianism and independency. The degree of M.A. was conferred on him by Lane Theological Seminary, Cincinnati in 1841.

Reformer

Roberts was a pacifist, worked for the London Peace Society, and wrote on the peace issue. His Thoughts on War, addressed to People of All Classes (1834) explained that the absolute pacifist line required by the Peace Society of London need not be followed by pacifists in local "auxiliary" societies.