Stephen James Roberts was born in Clerkenwell, London on 4th January 1889 the son of Charles William and Emma R Roberts. Charles was a cooper and they lived at 6 Roberts Place, Clerkenwell. In Marylebone, in late 1907, Stephen married Maud Maria Crook of Long Crendon.

Stephen had joined the Royal Artillery in 1909 and by April 1911 he was serving with 90th Heavy Battery Royal Garrison Artillery in India, although his wife was living at 8 Chinnor Road, Thame with her father, Harry Crook a retired farmer of Long Crendon, and their young son William Harry Charles. A further son, Donald George, was born in May 1911.

Stephen was present at the Dardanelles landings of 1915 where he escaped injury. He was a Corporal with the 60th Heavy Battery which first moved to France on 14 June 1916. He died in the Somme area of the Western Front on 22nd April 1917 from wounds he received as a result of enemy gas shell fire.

He is buried in the Philosophe British War Cemetery, Mazingarbe, Pas de Calais, France, and is remembered in Thame on the War Memorial and the memorial boards of St Mary’s and All Saints Churches.