George Arthur Roberts was a soldier, activist and London firefighter who helped keep London safe in the 2WW.
- Maya Bello-Taylor
- Nov 1
- 8 min read
Updated: 1 day ago
George Arthur Roberts was born in Trinidad on 1 August 1890, when the island was still part of the British Empire. Emancipation, only 52 years earlier, had brought little improvement for most Black Trinidadians, who remained trapped in low‑paid plantation work with limited access to education and few routes to better employment. Those who did gain schooling still faced systemic racial barriers and often looked to Europe for opportunity.
For many young men from poor backgrounds - then as now - the army offered a rare escape. For young Caribbean men who didn’t want to work on a plantation, the West India Regiment provided a way out: the chance to learn a trade and build a life beyond the racial constraints of early 20th‑century Trinidad.
The West India Regiment had been raised from Britain’s Caribbean colonies from 1795, initially recruiting enslaved Africans purchased from plantations and slave ships to fight in the wars with Revolutionary and Napoleonic France. After the abolition of the slave trade, soldiers recruited as slaves were legally freed under the Mutiny Act of 1807 and later received the same pay and bounties as white soldiers; and significantly, they were recognised as a formal part of the British Army, unlike their counterparts in India and other British colonies. In the years after abolition, recruits then included men liberated from illegal slave ships and captured Black soldiers from enemy French and Dutch colonies. They saw action in numerous battles in the Caribbean, in America in the War of 1812, joining the attack on New Orleans. For most of the 19th century, the remaining regiments were based in Trinidad and Jamaica before disbanding in 1904. But the West African regiment continued in service until 1927 establishing a base in Sierra Leone for the recruitment and training of African volunteers after fighting in the Second Ashanti War (1873-74).
Records suggest Roberts joined the West India Regiment as a youth and probably learned the electrical trade there before the regiment was disbanded in 1904. But not much is known about his early life in Trinidad. What we do know is that he had two daughters – Violet and Stella – with Delcina Green.
In those peaceful days there was not much excitement to be had on the Caribbean island of Trinidad for a young man ready for battle. So, when the First World War began, the enthusiastic young soldier took up the call and volunteered for European Service. He worked his way to England, most probably finding work on a ship travelling from Trinidad to England, and upon arrival was placed in the Middlesex Regiment.
As a rifleman attached to the Middlesex Regiment he was stationed to fight in the Dardanelles, Turkiye as part of the British Empire army. A 6ft 2in rifleman, he earned the nickname “Coconut Bomber” for his ability to throw grenades long distances, a skill said to come from knocking down coconuts as a boy. Wartime magazine Every Week reported “After doing splendid service in the Dardenelles, he served 14 months in France, going through many severe engagements and wounded first at Loos, and in the Somme.”
Roberts fought in the Battle of Loos, which took place on the Western Front between the 25th September and 13th October 1915. At the time, it was the largest British offensive of the war and witnessed Britain’s first use of gas warfare. He later fought in the Somme offensive, where over 240,000 British and Commonwealth soldiers were killed or wounded.
Roberts was one of hundreds of Caribbean volunteers who came to Britain to fight. Initially, they were drafted into a variety of units with the British army, but in 1915 it was decided to group them together into a single regiment, named the British West Indies Regiment. Not to be confused with the West India Regiment still active in Sierra Leone in West Africa. Nearly 20,000 men from Trinidad, Jamaica, British Guiana (now Guyana), Barbados and other islands enlisted. Roberts reportedly recruited more than 250 men by his ‘vigorous speeches’ on behalf of his adopted country during a 1916 visit back home.
West Indian troops volunteered for many reasons: patriotism, escaping poverty, and the hope that service would bring political rights and social advancement. Despite this, the British West Indies Regiment was largely confined to labour roles instead of front‑line combat and denied proper recognition. After the war their service was widely ignored; a clear example is the deliberate exclusion of Black units from the Caribbean and Africa from the Allied victory parades in summer 1919, because acknowledging their contributions threatened the colonial order.
Roberts returned to London in October 1917 and was demobilised in 1919 – taken out of active service – so he threw himself into veterans’ welfare. Amidst widespread outrage at the lack of state support for veterans, he joined the Federation of Discharged and Demobilised Sailors and Soldiers, one of several organisations fighting for veterans’ rights at the time, as an officer.
In one of the few pieces of his personal writing we have, George eloquently describes The Battle of Westminster Bridge, a march that erupted into violence when veterans – many of whom had returned from war into destitution and who were marching for jobs and the ‘homes fit for heroes’ they’d been promised – clashed with police outside Parliament.
He wrote: ‘A scrimmage between our columns and the police began. Our banners were torn to pieces and the poles broken and, when the police started using their batons we retaliated with our broken poles. The wounded and disabled, game for standing up for their principles, used their sticks and crutches. Yet in spite of this vicious official action against those who had served their country so well, a large proportion of personnel won through and crossed the bridge.’
After this, the various veterans’ organisations joined together to form the British Legion in 1921, later to become the Royal British Legion which continues today to campaign and support the welfare of veterans. George was an active member of the organisation from its inception. He would become the President and Founder Member of the Camberwell Branch and was made a life member of the Royal British Legion in 1962.
After the war, Roberts settled in Peckham and worked as an electrician, a trade learned in Trinidad. Like many colonial veterans, he encountered racism, broken promises and limited support.
Many colonial ex‑servicemen who remained in Britain after the First World War experienced similar treatment. Promises of land, money and jobs often went unfulfilled, leaving veterans struggling to find work and adjust to civilian life; those who returned home frequently encountered the same neglect. Many suffered physical injuries and wartime trauma (then called “shell shock”) with inadequate medical or social care and were treated as second‑class citizens whose contributions were downplayed in official histories, limiting recognition and civil‑rights gains. Some formed small supportive communities but remained economically and socially marginalised compared with veterans who returned home or came from countries with better post war support. Competition for jobs and housing fuelled racial tensions that erupted in a series of race riots across British port cities in 1919, including Cardiff, Liverpool and London.
He married his first wife, Margaret Whyland, around 1920 and they settled in the Lewis Trust Dwellings in Camberwell, which remained George’s home until his death in 1970. They had two sons, Cyril and Victor, who both served for Britain in the Second World War.
Racist discrimination he experienced despite being a war hero prompted him to join the League of Coloured Peoples, founded by Dr Harold Moody. Roberts was a founding member and served as chairman. The League was one of London’s first anti‑racist organisations, campaigning to end the colour bar that denied Black people housing, jobs and service in restaurants and hotels. It also advocated decolonisation and independence for Britain’s colonies, opposed white families who refused to take Black children as evacuees during the Second World War, and challenged racial discrimination in the British armed forces, including policies barring non‑white people from commissioning as officers.
Too old for frontline service in the Second World War, George joined the Home Front by enlisting in the London Auxiliary Fire Service in 1938, becoming its first Black member. After completing his training in 1939, he served at New Cross Fire Station in Southwark, helping to extinguish fires during the Blitz and saving many lives throughout the war. In 1941 his portrait was painted by Norman Hepple, reflecting his contemporary prominence.
He was promoted to section leader in 1943 and founded Discussion and Education groups at the station to raise awareness of fire safety and promote community cohesion. At their height, as many as 15,000 people a week attended similar groups at local stations to hear speakers on topics ranging from fire safety to politics; the groups were intended to counter the rise of fascism and the drift to war in Europe.
In the 1944 King’s Birthday Honours he was awarded the British Empire Medal “for his general duties at New Cross Fire Station and for his part as a founder and pioneer of the Discussion and Education groups of the Fire Service.” The medal was presented by King George VI on 15 May 1945 at Buckingham Palace.
Speaking on BBC radio’s Calling the West Indies in 1947, George said: “If what I am doing can assist in some small way to bring about a better understanding and a true fellowship amongst the peoples of the earth, I shall be extremely happy.”
Roberts married Rose Barnett in 1941 after the death of his first wife in 1937 and lived in Camberwell for 50 years. He died at King’s College Hospital in January 1970 of a recurrent coronary thrombosis.
Although his contributions were gradually sidelined in the white‑dominated historical record, historian Stephen Bourne rediscovered Roberts and included him in his book ‘Black Poppies: Britain’s Black Community and the Great War’. Bourne nominated him for a blue plaque; one was unveiled at his London home in 2016, and the London Fire Brigade later installed a red plaque at New Cross Fire Station to commemorate his service as a leading fireman in the Second World War which was unveiled by his great great-granddaughter Dr Samantha Harding.
Dr Samantha Harding said: “It’s always overwhelming for me to attend these events, as it brings to light all of the incredible things he has done.”
Michael Nicholas, national chair of the FBU’s black and ethnic minority members committee, said the life and work of George Arthur Roberts was a historic chapter of black history in the UK fire and rescue service.
“A decorated wartime hero, George Arthur Roberts is a powerful and positive legacy to all current black members of the military and fire service. We are proud to commemorate his achievements and humbled to have joined his family members at the ceremony. “Events like this enable a wider community knowledge of his commitment and bravery in service of his country. We follow very big footsteps,” he said.
In 2018 he became the figurehead of the 100th anniversary of the Fire Brigades Union and two years later in 2020, he became the central focus for an advert by genealogy company Ancestry, encouraging viewers to learn more about their own family history when it came to the Second World War, and was mentioned by Boris Johnson in the speech he gave on 1st October 2020, to mark UK Black History Month.
Images: Wikipedia media
Sources:
Stephen Bourne: Black Poppies: Britain's Black Community and the Great War
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