Frederick Owen Roberts (2 July 1876 – 23 October 1941) was a Labour Party politician in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and ...

. Roberts worked as a compositor and became active in the

Typographical Association The Typographical Association (TA) was a trade union representing typographers in the United Kingdom and Ireland. History The National Typographical Association collapsed in 1848, and delegates from across Yorkshire and Lancashire met at Ange ...

, serving on its executive council. He was also active in the Labour Party, and served on its National Executive Committee for many years.

Trades Union Congress The Trades Union Congress (TUC) is a national trade union centre, a federation of trade unions in England and Wales, representing the majority of trade unions. There are 48 affiliated unions, with a total of about 5.5 million members. Frances ...

, "Obituary: Mr F. O. Roberts", ''Annual Report of the 1942 Trades Union Congress'', pp.135-136 He was elected at the 1918 general election as

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...

(MP) for

West Bromwich West Bromwich ( ) is a market town in the borough of Sandwell, West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. Historic counties of England, Historically part of Staffordshire, it is north-west of Birmingham. West Bromwich is part of the area ...

, defeating the sitting

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...

MP Viscount Lewisham. He held the seat until the Conservatives regained it in

1931 Events January * January 2 – South Dakota native Ernest Lawrence invents the cyclotron, used to accelerate particles to study nuclear physics. * January 4 – German pilot Elly Beinhorn begins her flight to Africa. * January 22 – Sir I ...

, but was re-elected at the 1935 general election. He was sworn as a

Privy Councillor A privy council is a body that advises the head of state of a state, typically, but not always, in the context of a monarchic government. The word "privy" means "private" or "secret"; thus, a privy council was originally a committee of the mo ...

in 1924, when he was appointed as Minister of Pensions in

Ramsay MacDonald James Ramsay MacDonald (; 12 October 18669 November 1937) was a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, the first who belonged to the Labour Party, leading minority Labour governments for nine months in 1924 ...

's First Labour Government. He held the same post in the 1929–1931 Labour Government. He resigned his seat on 3 April 1941, and died later that year, aged 65.

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* * 1876 births 1941 deaths Labour Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies Typographical Association-sponsored MPs UK MPs 1918–1922 UK MPs 1922–1923 UK MPs 1923–1924 UK MPs 1924–1929 UK MPs 1929–1931 UK MPs 1935–1945 Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom Chairs of the Labour Party (UK) {{England-Labour-UK-MP-stub