David Lloyd Roberts (1835–1920) was a British gynaecologist and bibliophile.

Life

He was born in

Stockport Stockport is a town in Greater Manchester, England, south-east of Manchester, south-west of Ashton-under-Lyne and north of Macclesfield. The River Goyt, Rivers Goyt and River Tame, Greater Manchester, Tame merge to create the River Mersey he ...

, the son of Robert Roberts, a cotton spinner. He was first apprenticed as a chemist before more formal education at

Ripponden Ripponden is a village and civil parish on the River Ryburn near Halifax in West Yorkshire, England. Historically it was part of the West Riding of Yorkshire. Its population was 6,412 at the time of the 2001 Census, and 7,421 in 2011. Rippo ...

College. He then assisted Professor William Smith in his physiology classes at

Owen's College The Victoria University of Manchester, usually referred to as simply the University of Manchester, was a university in Manchester, England. It was founded in 1851 as Owens College. In 1880, the college joined the federal Victoria University. Af ...

in Manchester, being allowed to study Medicine in his spare hours before winning a place at

St Andrews University The University of St Andrews (, ; abbreviated as St And in post-nominals) is a public university in St Andrews, Scotland. It is the oldest of the four ancient universities of Scotland and, following the universities of Oxford and Cambridge, t ...

. He did further postgraduate studies in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

and

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. He qualified MB in 1857and MD in 1859. In 1858 he began work as Surgeon in Ordinary at St Marys Hospital for Women and Children in Manchester. In 1880 he was elected a Fellow of the

Royal Society of Edinburgh The Royal Society of Edinburgh (RSE) is Scotland's national academy of science and letters. It is a registered charity that operates on a wholly independent and non-partisan basis and provides public benefit throughout Scotland. It was establis ...

. His proposers were James Matthews Duncan, Sir

Alexander Russell Simpson Sir Alexander Russell Simpson FRCPE FRSE LLD (20 April 1835 – 6 April 1916) was a Scottish physician and Professor of Midwifery at the University of Edinburgh. He invented the Obstetrical forceps, axis-traction forceps also known as the ob ...

, Sir

Thomas Grainger Stewart Sir Thomas Grainger Stewart (23 September 1837, in Edinburgh – 3 February 1900, in Edinburgh) was an eminent Scottish physician who served as president of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh (1889–1891), president of the Medico-C ...

, and Angus Macdonald. In 1885 he was appointed Gynaecological Surgeon to

Manchester Royal Infirmary Manchester Royal Infirmary (MRI) is a large NHS teaching hospital in Chorlton-on-Medlock, Manchester, England. Founded by Charles White in 1752 as part of the voluntary hospital movement of the 18th century, it is now a major regional and nati ...

. He retired from surgery in 1895 and died on 29 September 1920. He bequeathed a library of over 3000 largely medical books and 53 rare

incunabula An incunable or incunabulum (: incunables or incunabula, respectively) is a book, pamphlet, or broadside (printing), broadside that was printed in the earliest stages of printing in Europe, up to the year 1500. The specific date is essentiall ...

to the

Royal College of Physicians The Royal College of Physicians of London, commonly referred to simply as the Royal College of Physicians (RCP), is a British professional membership body dedicated to improving the practice of medicine, chiefly through the accreditation of ph ...

in London and endowed them to provide the Lloyd Roberts Lectures which ran annually from 1921 to 1953. His literary collection of over 2000 books was bequeathed to the

John Rylands Library The John Rylands Research Institute and Library is a Victorian era, late-Victorian Gothic Revival architecture, neo-Gothic building on Deansgate in Manchester, England. It is part of the University of Manchester. The library, which opened to t ...

Family

He was married to Martha Occleshaw daughter of W. H. Occleshaw. They had no children.

Artistic Recognition

His portrait was painted by

William Orpen Major (United Kingdom), Major Sir William Newenham Montague Orpen, (27 November 1878 – 29 September 1931) was an Irish artist who mainly worked in London. Orpen was a fine draughtsman and a popular, commercially successful painter of portrai ...

Publications

*''The Practice of Midwifery'' (1857) *''A Student's Guide to Practical Midwifery'' (1876) *''Sir Thomas Browne's Religio Medici'' (1892) *''The Scientific Knowledge of Dante'' (1914)

References

1835 births 1920 deaths People from Stockport Alumni of the University of St Andrews British gynaecologists Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh {{UK-med-bio-stub