ROBERTS, Rear Adm John Oliver CB 1924-2025

[Richard R]

From the Telegraph of 10 Jan 2026: ROBERTS Rear Admiral John Oliver, CB, much loved husband, father, grandfather and great grandfather, died peacefully at home on 27th December aged 101, surrounded by family. Funeral to be held at Herne Bay Crematorium, Bullockstone Road, Herne Bay, Kent CT6 7NF on Friday 30th January at 12 noon. Family flowers only.

He was s of John Vaughan ROBERTS of Llangurig, Montgomeryshire. He m 1 1950 (div 1960) Lady Hermione Mary Morton STUART 1925-69 d of 19 Earl of MORAY 1894-1974 and Mabel Helen Maud WILSON d 1968, and had a dau. He m 2 1963 (div 1987) Honor Marigold Gordon GRAY and had a son and a further dau. He m 3  1987 Sheila Violet Mary Traub BAKER d 2012. He m 2014 Gillian Ffrench Reckitt (née NOBBS).

[S R Eglesfield]

The only Sheila Violet M ROBERTS whose death was registered in 2012 (in Q3 in Northamptonshire) was born in 1923. She appears to have been the Sheila V M BARKER whose birth was registered in Q2 1923 in Chester, and who was the elder daughter of Brig Francis Brock BARKER, OBE (30 III 1893 - 22 V 1958) and his wife (married 1921), Susannah Mary Kathleen TULLOCH (6 II 1899 - 28 III 1984). Her obituary can be found at https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/timesunion-albany/name/sheila-roberts-obituary?id=4977573.

 

Brig Francis Brock Barker, who appeared in Ruvigny's Plantagenet Roll of the Blood Royal, was a great-great-grandson of Francis Edge BARKER (9 X 1778 - 10 VI 1827) and his wife (married 26 II 1802), Harriette JONES (4 XII 1780 - 17 II 1846), a daughter of Capt Thomas JONES (1740 - ?) and his second wife, Anne LLOYD. Capt Thomas Jones was a grandson maternally of Sir Thomas LONGUEVILLE, 4th and last Bt (died 1759), and his eldest son adopted the surname and arms of Longueville; the family can now be found in Burke's Landed Gentry in the pedigree of Longueville, formerly of Penylan, Oswestry, Shropshire.

 

The late Adm Roberts' fourth wife, Gillian Ffrench NOBBS (born 2 III 1937), is a great-granddaughter of Fletcher Christian NOBBS (1 IX 1833 - 3 III 1912), who was a grandson maternally of Fletcher CHRISTIAN (25 IX 1764 - 20 IX 1793), the leader of the Bounty mutineers. Fletcher Nobbs was a son of the Rev George Hunn NOBBS (16 X 1799 - 5 XI 1884), who invented an aristocratic background for himself by claiming to be the illegitimate son of the 1st Marquess of Hastings and Jemima FFRENCH, the daughter of an Irish baronet, but was in reality the illegitimate son of James SMITH and Jemima HUNN, who were both from working class families.

 

Mrs Gillian Ffrench Roberts, née Nobbs, was married firstly, on 8 December 1962, to David Francis RECKITT (31 III 1929 - 22 X 2004), the elder son of Geoffrey Lloyd RECKITT, MC (11 VI 1892 - 9 VI 1952) and his wife (married 1928), Molly Vera Ashley COOPER (8 V 1899 - 29 XI 1972). Geoffrey Reckitt was a grandson of Francis RECKITT (3 VI 1827 - 25 I 1917), who was himself a brother of Sir James RECKITT, 1st Bt (15 XI 1833 - 18 III 1924).