Colin Henderson Roberts


Colin Henderson Roberts was a classical scholar and publisher. He was Secretary to the Delegates of Oxford University Press between 1954 and 1974.

Biography

Roberts was born on 8 June 1909 in Queen Elizabeth Walk, Stoke Newington, London. His elder brother, Brian Richard Roberts, was later the editor of The Sunday Telegraph. He was educated at Merchant Taylors' School and St John's College, Oxford, where he read Classics, taking Firsts in both Honour Moderations and literae humaniores and was elected to the Craven University Fellowship. In 1934 he was elected a Junior Research Fellow at St John's, and remained a fellow there until 1976.
Under the influence of his tutors, Roberts became interested in papyrology and in the history of the book in ancient times. He participated in the excavations at Karanis organized by the University of Michigan, and published some Biblical papyri in the collections of the John Rylands Library. During World War II, he worked in intelligence in London and Bletchley Park. In 1948 he was elected Reader in Documentary Papyrology at Oxford.
In 1954 he succeeded A. L. P. Norrington as Secretary to the Delegates of Oxford University Press, holding the post until 1974. During his tenure he oversaw the publication of the New English Bible. He was appointed CBE in 1973.
Roberts was elected a Fellow of the British Academy in 1947, but resigned in 1979, in protest against its decision not to expel the traitor Anthony Blunt from the fellowship.

Works