Alfred Roberts

Alfred Roberts was born on 18 April 1892 in Ringstead, Northamptonshire. He was the fifth of seven children born to Benjamin Ebenezer Roberts and Ellen Smith. Benjamin Roberts was born on 28 December 1857 and died on 17 September 1925, and Ellen Smith was born on 20 November 1857 and died on 1 May 1935. Ellen Smith's mother, Catherine Sullivan, was born in Kenmare, Ireland.

Roberts left school at the age of thirteen to assist in supporting his family. By the 1911 census, he was recorded as living as a boarder in Oundle, Northamptonshire, working as a grocer's assistant. He later relocated to Grantham, Lincolnshire, where he secured employment as an apprentice in a greengrocers' shop. He initially aspired to become a teacher.

When World War I commenced in 1914, Roberts, who held a strong sense of patriotism, applied multiple times to enlist in the British Army but was rejected due to poor eyesight. Four years after moving to Grantham, he married Beatrice Ethel Stephenson on 28 May 1917. Beatrice was born on 24 August 1888 and died on 7 December 1960. The couple had two daughters, Muriel Cullen (born 24 May 1921, died 3 December 2004) and Margaret Thatcher, born Margaret Roberts.

In 1919, Alfred Roberts and his wife purchased a grocery shop, and in 1923, he opened a second shop. Roberts identified as an “old-fashioned liberal,” advocating for individual responsibility and sound financial principles. He admired the writings of John Stuart Mill and came from a family with a tradition of voting Liberal. However, he believed that the Liberal Party had shifted toward collectivism and viewed the Conservative Party as maintaining the original liberal values. His daughter Muriel recalled that Roberts was "always a Liberal at heart."

Roberts participated in politics as an independent, being elected to the Grantham town council in 1927. He also served as a part-time Justice of the Peace and held various community roles, including president of the Chamber of Trade, President of Rotary, director of the Grantham Building Society and the Trustee Savings Bank, chairman of the local National Savings Movement, and a governor of local grammar schools. During World War II, he served as Chief Welfare Officer overseeing civil defense efforts. He later became Chairman of the Finance and Rating Committee.

In 1943, Roberts was elected as an alderman on the Grantham Town Council. He served as Mayor of Grantham from November 1945 to 1946, during which he oversaw victory celebrations following the end of World War II. In his inaugural speech as mayor, he called for extensive public expenditure to rebuild infrastructure, health, social services, and to facilitate housing development.

Roberts was voted out as alderman on 21 May 1952, when the Labour Party gained a majority on the council. Following this event, he publicly expressed a sense of honor in laying down his civic duties. His daughter Margaret Thatcher later recounted this moment as "very emotional" during an interview with Miriam Stoppard.

Roberts retired from his business in 1958 but remained active in community service, including preaching and involvement in the Rotary Club. His wife Beatrice died in 1960. On 26 November 1965, Roberts married Cissie Miriam Hubbard, née Freeston. Roberts passed away on 10 February 1970.

His daughter Margaret Thatcher became the first female Prime Minister of the United Kingdom in 1979. After Roberts’ death, allegations surfaced in 1997 in an article by Professor Bernard Crick claiming that Roberts had been involved in multiple sexual assaults on women. These claims were disputed by biographers and those who knew him, including John Campbell, Margaret Thatcher’s biographer, who regarded the accusations as unsubstantiated and believed that the character in the satirical work "Rotten Borough" was a parody of another local councillor.

Roberts has appeared as a fictionalized character in the 2008 BBC Four drama "The Long Walk to Finchley," which depicts Margaret Thatcher’s early political career; he was portrayed by actor Philip Jackson.