Key Dr Roberts of Bridport document acquired at auction

A short autobiographical volume penned by Bridport notable Dr Giles Roberts (1766-1834) has been acquired by Dorset History Centre (DHC) in partnership with Bridport Museum.  DHC which holds the county’s archives was able to draw upon funding from the Friends of the Nations’ Libraries which generously covered the cost of the item purchased from London’s Forum Auctions. The ‘Short Narrative of the Life of Giles Lawrence Roberts M.D. (written by Himself)’ was produced in 1799 the year after Roberts produced his famous ‘Poor Man’s Friend’ patent medicine which helped to make his fortune and was sold across Britain and overseas.

In the volume Roberts recounts details of his birth on 21 April 1866, the son of a naval gunner describing his family as being of ‘middling circumstances’.  He suffered from smallpox and rickets as a child but survived to take a strong interest in science and describes (modestly or otherwise) ‘a natural genius for mechanicks and experimental philosophy but more especially for chemistry, electricity and magnetism’.  Following a period in Bristol he returned to Bridport where Roberts relates how he ‘began to practice as an apothecary amongst the lower class of people’ in the town.  What comes across strongly and frequently however is Roberts’s strong religious faith leading him to obtain a licence to preach and delivering over 120 sermons across the West Country.

The volume is an important addition to our understanding of this key Bridport figure as he details key parts of his early life and influences. Find out more about Dr Roberts here 

Whilst the item will be held for public access at DHC in Dorchester, it will in the future be made available for exhibition in Bridport and a digital copy supplied to the Museum for its volunteers to work on.