b. 02/06/1891 Highbury, London. d. 21/01/1982 Stanhope Bretby, Derbyshire.
Frank Crowther Roberts (1892-1982) was born in Highbury, Middlesex on 2nd June 1891. His father, Reverend Frank Roberts, married Rosa Ellen Carpenter on 3rd January 1877 at Newton Abbot, Devon. She was from Dawlish, Devon. Frank was a draper and mercer in 1881 with a business in Fore Street, Tiverton, Devon, employing nine assistants. After Rosa died in 1884, he became a deacon at Cullompton Church in 1886 and was then assistant curate to Reverend Francis Barnes, Vicar of Holy Trinity, Plymouth, Devon. He married Reverend Barnes’ daughter, Sarah Ann Mary at Plymouth on 21st April 1887. Frank junior had two sisters, Edith and Rosa.
Frank was educated at St Lawrence College 1906-09 and the Royal Military College Sandhurst. He was known as “Culley” to his close friends. He was commissioned on 4th March 1911 and was serving with 1st Battalion in Egypt when war broke out. He was promoted to lieutenant on 8th August 1914.
Frank C Roberts
VC DSO OBE MC
His battalion moved to France in November 1914, where after less than two months he was awarded the DSO at Neuve Chapelle on 3rd January 1915. He led a party of 25 men in a raid on an enemy trench, the first genuinine raid to be carried out on the Western Front. The party took the Germans by surprise, bayoneted 30 of them and returned to the British lines after only 4 minutes.
He was wounded on 9th May and evacuated to Britain on 19th May. He returned to France on 30th June and was promoted captain on 6th August. He continued as adjutant until 12th August 1916 and was then appointed Staff Captain, HQ 23rd Brigade. On 24th October he was appointed Brigade Major, HQ 23rd Brigade, which was commanded by Brigadier GWSG Grogan, who was awarded the VC in May 1918.
He gained the Military Cross on 31st July 1917 on Bellewaarde Ridge for conducting daring reconnaissances under heavy fire. He was then appointed acting lieutenant colonel to command the 1st Worcestershire Battalion from 24th October 1917, and later he was Brigade Major for 23rd Brigade between March and October while the actual CO was absent in England.
During the period 22nd March to 2nd April 1918 west of Somme and at Pargny, France, Lieutenant Colonel Roberts showed exceptional military skill in dealing with the many very difficult situations of the retirement and amazing endurance and energy in inspiring all ranks under his command. On one occasion the enemy attacked a village and had practically cleared it of our troops when Colonel Roberts got together an improvised party and led a counter-attack which temporarily drove the enemy out of the village, thus covering the retirement of troops on their flanks. The success of this action was entirely due to his personal valour and skill.
He was gazetted for the VC on 8th May 1918, and was presented with the medal by King George V at Buckingham Palace on 1st June 1918. After the 1914-18 War, ‘ Culley ‘ Roberts served in a variety of Staff appointments in Egypt (awarded the Egyptian Gold Medal of the Order of Mohammad Ali), the Rhine Army and in the Far East, before transferring to the Royal Warwickshire Regiment on accelerated promotion to major in 1927. After further service in India, the Middle East, with the Iraqi Army taking part in operations in South Kurdistan from 1930-31 and as a Staff Officer in Northern Ireland, he was selected to command 1st Battalion The Royal Warwickshire Regiment in 1937. He subsequently served as a Brigade Commander in India and as G.O.C. 48 Inf. Div. (T.A.) before retiring in December 1939.
He had married Winifred Wragg on 23rd April 1932 at Swadlincote, Derbyshire and on retirement settled in Bretby, near Burton-on-Trent, his wife’s home. There were no children and Mrs. Roberts died in December 1980. Frank turned 90 a fortnight after the VC/GC Reunion dinner in London on 18th May 1981, and he died at Four Winds, Stanhope Bretby, Burton on Trent on 12th January 1982. He was the last of the 1918 Spring Offensive VCs to pass away. He was cremated at Bretby Crematorium, and his ashes were interred in his wife’s family grave in St Wystan’s Churchyard, Bretby. A VC commemorative stone was dedicated at Islington Memorial Green on 21st March 2018.
In addition to the VC he was awarded the DSO, OBE, MC, 1914 Star with “Mons” clasp, British War Medal 1914-20, Victory Medal 1914-19 with Mentioned in Despatches oakleaf, War Medal 1939-45, George V Silver Jubilee Medal 1935, George VI Coronation Medal 1937, Elizabeth II Coronation Medal 1953, Elizabeth II Silver Jubilee Medal 1977, Egyptian Order of Mohammad Ali Gold Medal, Khedive’s Sudan Medal 1910 with clasp “Aliab Dinka”, Iraqi Order of Al Rafidain 4th Class (Military Division) and Iraqi Active Service Medal. He bequeated his medals to the Worcestershire Regiment, and the medals are currently held in storage whilst the Regiment’s Collection is being transferred to a new museum inside The Commandery, Sidbury, Worcester, due for opening in 2028.
LOCATION OF MEDAL: WORCESTERSHIRE REGIMENT COLLECTION.
BURIAL PLACE: BRETBY CHURCHYARD, BRETBY, DERBYSHIRE.
ASHES INTERRED.
