Who was George Arthur Roberts?
A life well lived
This website was set up by the family of George Arthur Roberts to celebrate his life and legacy. Born in 1891 he came to the UK around 1914, fought in World War I and was a founder member of the British Legion in 1919 and the League of Coloured Peoples in 1931. He was the first black man to join the Auxiliary Fire Service in 1938 and received the British Empire Medal for his work setting up discussion groups within the fire service in 1944. As interest in his life has grown, his family continue to honour his memory and disseminate his work as widely as possible.
Norman Hepple's portrait of George Arthur Roberts
dated July 1941.
Welcome to the Life and Legacy of George Arthur Roberts
A website created by his family
to commemorate his life and work
The 80th anniversary of VE day 2025 - a great year for George Arthur Roberts
Royal Mail issues WW2
postage stamp
In a rare honour the Royal Mail launched a postage stamp with the image of George Arthur Roberts to commemorate his work as a firefighter during World War Two.
Entitled Valour and Victory: Stories of the Second World War the 10 stamps depicted Roberts among British second world war figures such as 'forces sweetheart' singer Vera Lynn and the heroic spy Violette Szabo.
The launch event at Imperial War Museum North included the daughters of both Ms Lynn and Ms Szabo.
The stamps were briefly on sale at UK post offices but can now be obtained directly from the Royal Mail at https://share.google/QY83ftOQ62Ohj5a8R
The South Bank of the Thames was the venue for a VE day party on May 7th 2025 where every plate was a 'hidden' wartime hero. Roberts had his plate at the Ancestry.com table (pictured below). Watch a report from ITV News on YouTube here: https://youtu.be/ZC16et2BZhY?feature=shared
Ancestry stages VE day party
Tapestry depicts Black wartime achievers
The Tapestry of Black Britons was unveiled at the Bishop's House, Fulham, London in 2025. This extraordinary work, curated and designed by Paula Ogun-Hector, is travelling nationwide. His great grandaugher Sam Harding is pictured.
News and information commemorating the life and work of George Arthur Roberts
Imperial War Museum opens new World War Two galleries
AFTER six years of research, curation and hard work the Imperial War Museum opened its spectacular World War Two galleries in London this week featuring George Arthur Roberts.
IWM patron the Duke of Kent, escorted around the exhibits by IWM staff, immediately recognised the AFS uniform when he arrived at the exhibit honouring Roberts and other Home Front service members. He later met Roberts's great granddaughter, Samantha Harding, alongside other family members whose relatives also appeared in the new Holocaust galleries including extraordinary Holocaust survivor Kitty Hart-Moxon. She presented the Duke with a gift of her book detailing her story of surviving Auschwitz aged only 14.
The exhibition will stand for the next twenty years at the IWM in Kennington.
Pictured is Samantha Harding, Roberts's great granddaughter, who stands alongside the exhibit.
With thanks to curator Vikki Hawkins.
More than 184,000 watch the Ancestry ad on YouTube
Ancestry creates advert using George Arthur Roberts image
FOLLOWING the extraordinary success of the television adverts for ancestry.com with 689,000 views on YouTube and featuring the voice of his great granddaughter, the genealogy website has again led its advertising campaign with this striking picture of George Arthur Roberts.
The image, originated from a photograph of Roberts taken during his World War Two work for the Auxiliary Fire Service, is already appearing in newspapers and magazines including the Radio Times and other publications nationwide.
Meanwhile the television advert will be live for a second year and is already being featured on screens internationally. The advertisement can be viewed here: https://youtu.be/abWQZPf26Ew
The centenary of the Royal British Legion - do you remember George Arthur Roberts?
George Arthur Roberts was a founder member of the Royal British Legion in 1920 and the Royal British Legion are looking for anyone who may have memories of his work for the Camberwell Branch he founded in 1940. He wrote about his work for them in a 1961 edition of the legion magazine when he recalled "The Battle of Westminster Bridge". He was a president of the Camberwell branch and was made a life member of the branch in 1962.
If you have any information on George Arthur Roberts and his work for the British Legion, please use the contact sheet below to get in touch.
Pictures: The Royal British Legion makes brief mention of Roberts in its September 2020 issue commemorating VJ day. Photograph: George Roberts mans a poppy stall with mayor and mayoress of Southwark Arthur and Bess Chambers in 1966. (Thanks to Margaret Fairman and Don Chambers for this information)
Honouring The Keys - the journal of London's first
anti-racism organisation
In 1931 doctor Harold Moody founded the League of Coloured Peoples (LCP) in London. It is probably one of London's first anti-racist organisations and its founding chairman was George Arthur Roberts. The Keys, the journal of the LCP, was first published in 1933 and in 1934 deputy editor Una Marson produced this hard-hitting poem based on her personal experiences of being racially abused in the street. It uses the language she was faced with and demonstrates the emotional impact of being called such words - a powerful statement of her experiences on the streets of London. For a time Marson edited The Keys and she was to become probably the first black woman producer at the BBC. In tribute to her work a blue plaque was erected in her memory at Brunswick Square in Camberwell where she lived for a while.
You can watch examples of some of the programmes she created on YouTube.
Previous events commemorating George Arthur Roberts and his life
Blue Plaque Unveiling
September 11 2016
Roberts wins the Southwark News competition for a blue plaque at his Camberwell home. Watch film of the ceremony here: https://youtu.be/VcHlX1Slo64 (with thanks to Wood Green Films) and https://youtu.be/h7TMF68z-tI (with thanks to Kevin Goggin)
Red Plaque unveiling
April 2018
Honouring Roberts's work for the Auxiliary Fire Service, The London Fire Brigade, Fire Brigades Union and London fire chief Dany Cotton unveiled a plaque at New Cross Fire Station, where Roberts won his British Empire Medal for his service. Watch the ceremony here: https://youtu.be/7-y3hSzC6NU (With thanks to Kevin Goggin)
Festival of Remembrance November 2018
Held at the Royal Albert Hall, this commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the end of World War I honoured veterans including Roberts with their descendants gathered by the BBC and joining cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason in a poignant moment of remembrance. Watch it here: https://youtu.be/2iUb4l2tFvk
Welcome to our website
Thank you for visiting our website. My name is Samantha Harding and I am the great granddaughter of George Arthur Roberts.
I am hoping that this website will become a point at which we in the family can share all we know about George Arthur Roberts and receive information from anyone who remembers him and wants to contribute memories, writings, impressions or historical records that could help us all find out more about him and his life.
We also hope that if there are any events, talks or other landmarks we can publicise these events here.
As this website developes, we will be looking to add more content by Roberts himself as well as by and about other family members.
We hope you enjoy this website.
Samantha Harding
