Samuel Roberts was born on 11th May 1888 in the civil parish of Sutton (Weaver), part of the ecclesiastical parish of Aston, near Runcorn. He was the son of Samuel Roberts (born Rossett near Wrexham) and his wife Elizabeth (nee Smith) who was born in Cambridge. The father was a miller’s carter.
The Census of 1891 showed the family living at Frodsham Bridge. The father was a waggoner. They had six children at this time: Edith who was 13 years old, Maria (9 years old), Louisa (7 years old), Samuel (2 years old), Clara (5 years old) and two-month-old Elizabeth. They had also had Hannah born in 1879 and Annie born in1885, but they had died young.
Ten years later they were still living at Frodsham Bridge and the father was a carter at a corn mill. Samuel now had three more siblings: Charles (9), Lily (4) and Margaret Mary (3). The only other children recorded were Louisa, Samuel and Elizabeth.
Service records from 1908 showed that Samuel enlisted for three years in the 5th Battalion of the Cheshire Regiment. He was 19 years and 11 months old and declared his occupation as a labourer for J. Ashworth (the owner of a boneworks). He would have been in F Company as that recruited from Frodsham.
In 1911 the Roberts family lived at Aston Arms Cottages, Frodsham Bridge. Samuel Roberts senior was working as a carter for a building contractor and young Samuel was now employed as a labourer for a coal merchant. The parents had had twelve children, but only eight had survived by that time.
On 6th October 1912 Samuel married Rachel Houghton at St Michael’s in Garston. They were both living at 11, Thomas Street in Garston. She was four years his junior. On 10th March 1913 a son called Samuel was born.
It is not known exactly when Samuel enlisted for service in the Great War, but he did join the 12th Battalion of King’s Liverpool Regiment and was given the service number 12399. He was a Corporal at the time of his death. He was killed in action on 3rd March 1916 whilst fighting in Flanders. He was buried in the Bard Cottage Cemetery, West- Vlaanderen, Belgium. This cemetery was used for burials from June 1915 until October 1918 for the northern sectors of the Ypres Salient. Samuel is commemorated on the War Memorial in Aston-by-Sutton and at St Laurence’s in Frodsham.
His widow Rachel was married again in West Derby in 1917 to Thomas Jones. She gave birth that year to another son called Thomas Jones.
Samuel Roberts was 27 years old when he was killed.