Sir Sydney Castle Roberts (1887–1966) was a well-known and popular figure around Cambridge throughout his life, and was recognised as a publisher of skill and distinction.

Roberts was born in Birkenhead on 3 April 1887; he attended Brighton College

Brighton College

Brighton College is an institution divided between a Senior School known simply as Brighton College, the Prep School and the Pre-Prep School. All of these schools are co-educational independent schools in Brighton, England, sited immediately next to each another. The Senior School caters for...

 and Pembroke College, Cambridge

Pembroke College, Cambridge

Pembroke College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England.The college has over seven hundred students and fellows, and is the third oldest college of the university. Physically, it is one of the university's larger colleges, with buildings from almost every century since its...

. Secretary of Cambridge University Press

Cambridge University Press

Cambridge University Press is the publishing business of the University of Cambridge. Granted letters patent by Henry VIII in 1534, it is the world's oldest publishing house, and the second largest university press in the world...

 from 1922 to 1948 he was Master of Pembroke College, Cambridge

Pembroke College, Cambridge

Pembroke College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England.The college has over seven hundred students and fellows, and is the third oldest college of the university. Physically, it is one of the university's larger colleges, with buildings from almost every century since its...

 from 1948 to 1958, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cambridge

University of Cambridge

The University of Cambridge is a public research university located in Cambridge, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest university in both the United Kingdom and the English-speaking world , and the seventh-oldest globally...

 from 1949 to 1951 and Chairman of British Film Institute

British Film Institute

The British Film Institute is a charitable organisation established by Royal Charter to:-Cinemas:The BFI runs the BFI Southbank and IMAX theatre, both located on the south bank of the River Thames in London...

 1952 to 1956. He was an author, publisher and biographer and a noted Sherlockian being president of the Sherlock Holmes Society of London. He was conferred the Honour
of Knighthood in 1958

Three portraits of S.C.Roberts, 1949 by Elliott & Fry

Elliott & Fry

Elliott & Fry was a Victorian photography studio and photographic film manufacturer, founded in 1863 by Joseph John Elliott and Clarence Edmund Fry. For a century the firm's core business was taking and publishing photographs of the Victorian public and social, artistic, scientific and political...

 can be found in the National Portrait Gallery.

Family

Stepfather to Hugh Swann

Hugh Swann

Hugh Sinclair Swann , otherwise known as Tim Swann, became the cabinet maker to Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom. His work was inspired by his admiration for Barnsley, Gimson and Russell...

, cabinet maker to Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom

Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom

Elizabeth II is the constitutional monarch of 16 sovereign states known as the Commonwealth realms: the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica, Barbados, the Bahamas, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Belize,...

 and Michael Swann

Michael Swann

Michael Meredith Swann, Baron Swann, FRS was a distinguished molecular and cell biologist working on the mechanisms of cell division and fertilisation. He used cell polarisation methods to understand the changes in molecular organisation of the mitotic spindle...

 former chairman of the BBC

BBC

The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...

.

Publications

1. A Picture Book of British History; Cambridge University Press, 1914
2. The story of Doctor Johnson: being an introduction to Boswell's Life; Cambridge University Press, 1919
3. A History of the Cambridge University Press 1521–1921; Cambridge University Press, 1921
4. Doctor Johnson In Cambridge: Essays In Boswellian Imitation; Putnam, 1922
5. Lord Macaulay: the pre-eminent Victorian; Oxford University Press, 1927
6. The charm of Cambridge; A & C Black, 1927
7. An eighteenth-century gentleman and other essays; Cambridge University Press, 1930
8. Doctor Watson: Prolegomena to the study of a biographical problem; Faber & Faber, 1931
9. Introduction to Cambridge; Cambridge University Press, 1934
10. Pembroke College, Cambridge: a short history; Cambridge University Press, 1936
11. Zuleika in Cambridge; Heffer & Sons, 1941
12. Springs Of Hellas And Other Essays, with Memoir by S.C. Roberts, Cambridge University Press, 1945
13. British Universities (Britain in Pictures); Collins, 1947
14. The Sir Walter Scott lectures for 1948; Oliver and Boyd, 1948
15. Sherlock Holmes: Selected Stories: with an introduction by S C Roberts, Oxford University Press, 1951
16. Holmes & Watson: A Miscellany (Otto Penzler's Sherlock Holmes Library); Oxford University Press, 1953
17. Samuel Johnson; Longmans, 1954
18. The evolution of Cambridge publishing; Cambridge University Press, 1956
19. Doctor Johnson, and others; Cambridge University Press, 1958
20. Edwardian Retrospect; Uk English Association, 1963
21. Adventures with Authors; Cambridge University Press, 1966
22. The Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes: The Adventure of the Megatherium Thefts, Penguin Books 1985