Samuel Roberts

Who was Samuel Roberts?

Samuel Roberts, or simply "S.R.", was a Welsh political and economical writer.

In 1843, Roberts founded a Welsh language journal, Y Cronicl, in which he campaigned for radical causes. In 1857, he travelled to Tennessee in the hope of setting up a Welsh colony there. After ten years, he gave up the attempt and returned to Wales.

He was one of the earliest, if not the earliest, advocates of postal reform. The Times newspaper, in an obituary for Samuel Roberts, reported that he had pleaded before many associations for a low and uniform rate of postage, both inland and foreign, addressing letters on the subject to the Welsh Cymreigyddion societies in 1824 and to the authorities of the General Post Office in 1829 and again in 1836. In 1883 he received a grant of £50 from the Royal Bounty Fund, on the recommendation of the prime minister, William Gladstone, as recognition for his pioneering work in the cause of social progress and postal reform.