A Cyclopaedia of Female Biography/Roberts, Emma
ROBERTS, EMMA,
Was born about the year 1794, and descended from a Welsh family of great respectability. After her father's decease, Emma Roberts, who was the youngest of two sisters, resided with her mother, a lady of some literary pretensions, in the city of Bath, where she early devoted herself to the acquisition of knowledge. While prosecuting her researches for her first literary performance, she evinced so much diligence and perseverance, that the officers of the British Museum, where she was accustomed to study, were induced to render her every assistance in their power. This work was published in two volumes, in 1827, under the title of "Memoirs of the Rival Houses of York and Lancaster; or the White and Red Roses," and, although it is written in a perspicuous and pleasing manner, yet it did not meet with that success to which it was entitled by its merits.
On the death of her mother, and the marriage of her sister to Captain R. A. M'Naughten, of the Bengal army, Miss Roberts was induced to accompany her brother-in-law and sister to India, in 1828, where she spent the two following years between the stations of Agra, Cawnpore, and Etawa, in the upper provinces of the Bengal Presidency. A spirited account of these places subsequently appeared from her pen in "The Asiatic Journal," the first description being published in December, 1832. A selection of these papers was made in 1835, under the title of "Scenes and Characteristics of Hindoostan," and, unlike most works upon India, it met with a favourable reception from the English public. During her residence at Cawnpore, Miss Roberts published a little volume of poetry, entitled "Oriental Scenes," which she dedicated to her friend, Miss Landon. It was republished in England, in 1832, and contains some very pleasing specimens of glowing description and graceful imagery.
The death of her sister, which took place in 1831, caused Miss Roberts to return to Calcutta. Here her pen was in constant activity, and, besides various contributions to periodicals, she undertook the task of editing a newspaper—"The Oriental Observer." After residing for a year in Calcutta, the loss of her health forced her to return home, and she reached London in 1883. Here she continued her literary efforts, and the amount of labour performed by her would appear astonishing to any one who did not know her industry and readiness in composition. History, biography, poetry, tales, local descriptions, foreign correspondence, and didactic essays, by turns employed her versatile powers. She also edited "The Sixty-fourth Edition of Mrs. Bundle's Kew System of Cookery, etc." to which she added several receipts of her own. A pleasing biographical sketch of Mrs. Maclean, or L. E. L., was also written by the same lady, which was published with "The Zenena, and other poems," in 1840. In the fall of 1889, Miss Roberts formed the bold design of travelling to India through Egypt, accompanied only by a female friend. Previous to her departure she entered into an agreement with the Asiatic Journal to transmit, on her journey, a series of papers for publication descriptive of her route. The last of these communications appeared in the same number which announced her death; and since then they have been collected and published under the title of "Notes of an Overland Journey through France and Egypt, to Bombay, by the late Miss Emma Roberts."
On the evening of the 29th. of October, Miss Roberts and her friend landed in the harbour of Bombay, having been less than two months in performing their hurried journey from London. Her aid was almost immediately requested by the conductors of periodical works at Bombay, and she likewise undertook the editorship of a new weekly paper—"The Bombay United Service Gazette." She also engaged in schemes for improving the condition of the native women, by devising employment for them suited to their taste and capacity, and in her "Notes" appear some sensible remarks on native education.
These multifarious engagements in a tropical climate soon proved too much for Miss Roberts' constitution, already weakened by excessive exertion. She died suddenly, on the 16th. of September, 1840, while on a visit to a friend at Poonah, and was buried near Mrs. Fletcher i better known to the English world by her maiden name of Jewsbury. The death of Miss Roberts excited universal sorrow, among both natives and Europeans, in India, and many flattering tributes were paid to her memory in the public journals.