British author, publisher and university administrator
Sir Sydney Castle Roberts (3 April 1887 – 21 July 1966) was a British author, publisher and university administrator. He was a well-known and popular figure aroundCambridge throughout his life,[ 1] [ 2] [ 3]
Roberts was born inBirkenhead , the son of Frank Roberts, a civil engineer. He attendedBrighton College andPembroke College, Cambridge .[ 4] World War I , he served as a lieutenant in theSuffolk Regiment and was wounded in theThird Battle of Ypres .[ 5]
He was Secretary ofCambridge University Press from 1922 to 1948, Master ofPembroke College, Cambridge from 1948 to 1958, Vice-Chancellor ofUniversity of Cambridge from 1949 to 1951, and Chairman of theBritish Film Institute from 1952 to 1956. He was an author, publisher and biographer and a noted Sherlockian, being president[ 6] Sherlock Holmes Society of London. According to Jon Lellenberg, Roberts is responsible for the popularisation of theSherlockian game of criticism.[ 7]
In 1954 he held theSandars Readership in Bibliography and his topic was "The evolution of Cambridge publishing.[ 8]
He was knighted in 1958.[ 9]
TheNational Portrait Gallery holds three photographic portraits of Roberts byElliott & Fry , made in 1949.[ 10]
He married, firstly, Irene Wallis (died 1932), daughter of Arnold Joseph Wallis, Fellow ofCorpus Christi College, Cambridge . They had two daughters and a son. After her death, in 1938, he married a second time to Marjorie Dykes, widow of Dr Meredith Blake Robson Swann. Roberts was stepfather toHugh Swann ,[ 11] Queen Elizabeth II , and ofMichael Swann , former chairman of theBBC .
He died inAddenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge.[ 3]
A Picture Book of British History ; Cambridge University Press, 1914The Story of Doctor Johnson: being an introduction to Boswell's Life ; Cambridge University Press, 1919A History of the Cambridge University Press 1521–1921 ; Cambridge University Press, 1921Doctor Johnson In Cambridge: Essays In Boswellian Imitation ; Putnam, 1922Lord Macaulay: The Pre-eminent Victorian ; Oxford University Press, 1927The charm of Cambridge ; A & C Black, 1927An Eighteenth-century Gentleman and other essays ; Cambridge University Press, 1930Doctor Watson: Prolegomena to the study of a biographical problem ; Faber & Faber, 1931Introduction to Cambridge ; Cambridge University Press, 1934Pembroke College, Cambridge: a short history ; Cambridge University Press, 1936Zuleika in Cambridge ; Heffer & Sons, 1941Springs Of Hellas And Other Essays , with Memoir by S.C. Roberts, Cambridge University Press, 1945British Universities (Britain in Pictures); Collins, 1947The Sir Walter Scott Lectures for 1948 ; Oliver and Boyd, 1948Sherlock Holmes: Selected Stories : with an introduction by S C Roberts, Oxford University Press, 1951Holmes & Watson: A Miscellany (Otto Penzler's Sherlock Holmes Library); Oxford University Press, 1953Samuel Johnson ; Longmans, 1954The Evolution of Cambridge Publishing ; Cambridge University Press, 1956Doctor Johnson, and others ; Cambridge University Press, 1958Edwardian Retrospect ; UK English Association, 1963Adventures with Authors ; Cambridge University Press, 1966The Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes: The Adventure of the Megatherium Thefts , Penguin Books 1985^ Zuleika in Cambridge , Oleander Press; 2009.^ Adventures with Authors , Cambridge University Press; 2010.^a b "Obituary: Sir S. Roberts".The Times ^ Heritage Press Sandglass Companion Book: 1960–1983 by Michael C. Bussacco Google Books ^ War Record of the Cambridge University Press, 1914–1919 . Cambridge University Press. 1920."Roberts S C 2nd Lt" .ww1photos.com .^ Letter from Christopher Morley to Sydney Castle Roberts, president of the Sherlock Holmes Society of London^ "The Ronald Knox Myth" ^ " Barker, Nicolas. 1966. "S.C."The Book Collector 15 (no 4) Winter: 419-422. ^ Supplement to theLondon Gazette , 1 January 1958, p. 2.^ National Portrait Gallery.Sir Sydney Castle Roberts ^ Tim Swann,The Times [dead link ]
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