One of the UK's leading amateur botanists and nature conservationists from Wales. He co-founded the North Wales Naturalists' Trust (North Wales Wildlife Trust) and was the organisation's first General Secretary. He had an international reputation for his expertise in Polypodium, Dactylorhiza, and Mimulus.
Educated at the University College of Wales, Bangor. He received no formal education in botany at school or university. He spent his whole career working as a primary school teacher.
In 1947, he was appointed to teach at Penmachno, Wales. This allowed him to study the mountain flora of Eryri (Snowdonia). He had a particular interest in ferns. Roberts studied the distribution patterns of plants against rock types.
In 1955, he and his family moved to Bangor, Wales, where he was appointed head teacher until his retirement in 1974.
Roberts was an active member of the British Pteridological Society (BPS) and the Botanical Society of the British Isles (BSBI) for almost 50 years. From 1955 to 1995, he was the BSBI Vice County Recorder for Anglesey (VC52).
After extensive fieldwork, Roberts published 2 books:
- The Flowering Plants and Ferns of Anglesey (Cardiff: National Museum of Wales, 1982)
- An Atlas of the Flowering Plants and Ferns of Anglesey (The Author, 2002)
In his lifetime, he would also publish nearly 50 scientific articles and papers on his own and was formally acknowledged in more than 20. Roberts' work was recognised in the naming of two taxa: Mimulus x robertsii and Equisetum x robertsii.
Roberts was always happy to share his knowledge and experience. Often advising university staff and students, professional conservationists, taxonomists, and fellow amateur botanists.
In 1979, Roberts developed a strong relationship with the University at Bangor and, in recognition of his botanical and conservation work, was awarded an Honorary MSc by the University of Wales. He also became an Honorary Member of the BSBI and was awarded the Linnean Society's H.H. Bloomer Medal for services to botany and conservation in 1999.
Roberts was described as a very modest man who was content with working quietly without acknowledgement. His other interests included archaeology, Welsh history, poetry, and Welsh Mountain sheep breeding.
Born Vienna, Austria 1884; died Hawaii 1962
Relatively uneducated, penniless and often in poor health Joseph Rock left Vienna as a young man in 1902, travelling through Europe and on to the United States. Moving to Hawaii where he was appointed by the Division of Forestry as its first botanical collector, he became a naturalised American in 1913. Although self taught as a botanist, Rock was appointed lecturer at the College in Hawaii, established its first herbarium, and served as its first curator from 1911 until 1920. In 1920 he was appointed by the US Department of Agriculture to find a tree in south east Asia the oil from which was supposed to be useful in treating leprosy. This was the start of his new life as an explorer and in 1922 he arrived in Lijiang, Yunnan which was to become his ‘home’ province though he also travelled widely in Szechuan, Gansu and also Tibet. He was to spend the next 27 years living among the people of the Western Provinces of China collecting plants for western museums and exploring and mapping mountains on the Tibetan border. Working for organisations such as Harvard University’s Arnold Arboretum, the United States Department of Agriculture, the United States Natural History Museum and the National Geographic Society, he photographed and wrote about the indigenous plants, people and geography of the remote region. He entered the lamaseries of Tibet and became deeply involved in the social and political conditions that affected Western China, witnessing much brutality during various rebellions. He was forced to leave communist China in 1949, but continued travelling around the world, eventually returning to Hawaii where he died in 1962. Rock bequeathed his extensive photographic collection to the archives of the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, alongside his diaries documenting his travels.
Source: ‘In China’s Border Provinces; The Turbulent Career of Joseph Rock’ S.B. Sutton. ‘Joseph Rock and His Shangri-La’ Jim Goodman. Archives
D.W.