George A. Roberts left his home in Trinidad in 1915 to join the Middlesex Regiment in the First World War. He fought in several major battles, including the Somme. After the war he remained in England, and made his home in Camberwell, south east London. Active in the Royal British Legion from its beginnings in 1921 until he died in 1970, George was the President and Founder Member of the Camberwell Branch.
In 1931, with the Jamaican-born community activist Dr Harold Moody, who had settled in Peckham, George was a founder member of the League of Coloured Peoples. This was one of the first organisations to represent and support Britain’s black community. George remained an active member of the League until it disbanded a few years after Dr Moody’s death in 1947.
Too old to fight in the Second World War, George became a fireman. In 1939 Roberts completed his training with the Auxiliary Fire Service (AFS), which was renamed the National Fire Service (NFS) in 1941. Throughout the London Blitz and the rest of the Second World War, he served as a brave fire fighter, putting out fires and saving lives while the bombs fell and exploded. He was based at New Cross Fire Station and in 1943 was made a section leader. In 1941, wearing his AFS uniform, his portrait was painted by the war artist Norman Hepple and widely exhibited. In 1944 George was awarded the British Empire Medal which was presented to him by King George VI at Buckingham Palace.
In 2016 George A. Roberts was honoured with a Southwark Heritage Association Blue Plaque. It can be seen on the outside of his former home, the Lewis Trust Buildings, in Warner Road, Camberwell. In 2018 a Red Plaque was unveiled by the London Fire Brigade on New Cross Fire Station where George was stationed during the Second World War.
This information is from Stephen Bourne's books Mother Country: Britain's Black Community on the Home Front 1939-45 (The History Press, 2010) , The Motherland Calls: Britain's Black Servicemen and Women 1939-45 (The History Press, 2012) and War to Windrush: Black Women in Britain 1939-48 (Jacaranda Books, 2018).
SECOND WORLD WAR CONTENTS:
COMING SOON!
Profiles People
Living through Conflict
A Fight For Freedom
Commonwealth War Graves Commission Stories
Commemoration and Legacy
Artistic Responses to Conflict