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Thomas Francis Roberts

British academic (1860–1919)

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Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionSep 7, 2026
Entity authorityQ7789785 ↗
Source-derived summary

Thomas Francis Roberts (1860–1919) was a Welsh academic and second Principal of the University College of Wales, Aberystwyth.

Born at Aberdyfi, he received his education at Tywyn and the UCWA before taking a scholarship to St John's College, Oxford, where he took a first in Classical honour moderations in 1881 and again in literae humaniores two years later. After receiving his Bachelor's degree in 1883, he became the first Professor of Greek at the newly established University College of South Wales and Monmouthshire in Cardiff, South Wales.

In 1891 he succeeded Thomas Charles Edwards at his alma mater, University College Wales, Aberystwyth. He was a founder member, with T. E. Ellis, of the Aberystwyth Old Students' Association in 1892 and was later President in 1910–11.

To date, he is both the youngest-appointed and longest-serving Principal. He was also a key figure in developing the fledgling University of Wales, which was established in 1893.

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“Thomas Francis Roberts” enters the record as british academic (1860–1919). Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Thomas, Francis and Roberts can confirm, complicate or overturn.

Editorial reviewA dependable orientation record for establishing vocabulary, names and a first evidence trail. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1860, 1919, 1881, 1883—that can be checked directly. The authority record carries competing date values—1860-09-25, 1860-01-01—which should remain separate until their references and qualifiers are resolved. Its strongest next move is a source search built around Thomas, Francis and Roberts.
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“Thomas Francis Roberts” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Thomas, Francis and Roberts provides the most credible route into that argument.

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Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 7, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q7789785. VIAF identifies the subject as 68705229. The Library of Congress control number is no2007035342. 3 of 4 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 1 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1860, 1919, 1881 and 1883.

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This entry incorporates text from “Thomas Francis Roberts” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.