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Former Member Details

Mr Charles James ROBERTS, C.M.G (1846 - 1925)

Member Photo
Date of Birth: 29/03/1846
Place of Birth: Sydney, New South Wales , Australia
Date of Death: 14/08/1925
Place of Death: Elizabeth Bay, New South Wales, Australia
Parliamentary Service
Position Start End Period Notes
Member of the NSW Legislative Council 29 Apr 1890 14 Aug 1925 35 years 3 months 17 days Life Appointment under the Constitution Act. Date of Writ of Summons 15 April 1890
Member for Hastings and Manning 09 Feb 1889 13 Mar 1890 1 year 1 month 5 days
Sydney and Suburban Electric Lighting Bill Committee No.41 08 Feb 1888 16 May 1888 3 months 9 days
Claim of E.Blakeney v.Pegus Committee No.22 17 May 1887 07 Jun 1887 22 days
Member for Hastings and Manning 09 Feb 1887 19 Jan 1889 1 year 11 months 11 days
Postmaster-General 20 Jan 1887 16 Jan 1889 1 year 11 months 28 days
Cooma Church of England Parsonage Bill Committee No.45 11 Jun 1886 18 Jun 1886 8 days
Member for Hastings and Manning 20 Oct 1885 21 Jan 1887 1 year 3 months 2 days
Mort Bay Improvement Bill Committee No.17 21 Nov 1883 05 Feb 1884 2 months 16 days
St Philip’s Parsonage Bill Committee No.9 23 Oct 1883 07 Nov 1883 16 days
Mort’s Bay Improvement Bill Committee No.16 08 Mar 1883 06 Apr 1883 30 days
Member for Hastings and Manning 12 Dec 1882 07 Oct 1885 2 years 9 months 26 days
Member of the NSW Legislative Assembly 12 Dec 1882 13 Mar 1890 7 years 3 months 2 days
Political Party Activity
Community Activity
Director of the Colonial Mutual Life Assurance Co. 1889 - 1925. Chairman from 1909. Director of the Sydney Infirmary & Dispensary (Sydney Hospital from 1882) 1879 - 1886. Member of the Committee of the Industrial Blind Institution and the Committee of the City Night Refuge and Soup Kitchen. Commissioner of the International Exhibitions at Sydney in 1879, Melbourne 1880, Amsterdam 1883, Calcutta 1883 - 1884, Colonial and Indian (South Kensington, London, 1886), Centennial - Melbourne 1888. Mineral and Mining (London 1890), and Chicago 1893. Member of the Australian Jockey Club. Orangeman. Commissioned as a Justice of the Peace in 1878.
Qualifications, occupations and interests
Hotelier and Businessman. Educated at St James' Grammar School and from 1857 - 1862, Sydney Grammar, where he excelled at classics. After leaving school, he entered business in preference to the law. In 1867 purchased from his father the 'Crown & Anchor' Hotel, on the corner of George and Market Streets. Developed a wholesale wine and spirits business. Demolished the 'Crown & Anchor' in 1888 and built the five-storied 'Roberts' Hotel' on the site, which was sold in 1919 to Farmer & Co. Acquired another hotel on the corner of Pitt and Market streets, re-naming it the 'Roberts' Hotel'.
Military Service
Honours Received
Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George (CMG) in 1882.
Membership of other Parliaments & Offices Held
Local Government Activity
Alderman of the Sydney City Council for Macquarie Ward, 1 December 1877 - 30 November 1880. Mayor in1879.
Personal
Son of Charles Warman Roberts, publican, and his wife Annie Marsden. Married Lucretia Abrahams on 9 April 1867 and had issue 1 son and 5 daughters. Church of England.
Additional Information
Australian Dictionary of Biography (ADB), Volume 6.

The Parliament of New South Wales acknowledges and respects the traditional lands of all Aboriginal people, and pays respects to all Elders past and present. We acknowledge the Gadigal people as the traditional custodians of the land on which the Parliament of New South Wales stands.