A right-handed batsman who could play aggressively, but with a sound defensive method, Roe was considered one of Somerset's leading batsmen of the era.

His struggles were mirrored by his county side, Somerset, who flitted between first- and second-class cricket during his career.

[1] He left Elstree in 1901 to set up Stanmore Park preparatory school with former England Test cricketer Vernon Royle.

[3] Roe (senior) died on 11 October 1937, aged 76, in a nursing home in Marylebone, London following an operation.

[4] Roe had been a dominant cricketer during his time at school; in three years at the Clergy Orphan School, he took 292 wickets at a bowling average of eight, scored over 1,000 runs in 1878, and took all ten wickets in an innings against Chartham Asylum during his final year.

In 1879, before going up to Cambridge University, Roe played four times for Somerset County Cricket Club.

[7] He made his first-class cricket debut a few days after the second of those matches, appearing for the university side against an England XI.

The university fared badly in the match, with no batsman reaching double figures in the first innings, and only four managing it in the second.

In 1868, Edward Tylecote had become the first batsman to score a quadruple century (400 runs) in cricket, when he accumulated 404 not out in an internal match at Clifton College.

Roe and Allcock then proceeded to open the batting for Emmanuel, finishing the day on 157 without the loss of either batsman.

The next afternoon Roe reached his century early, and then after scoring 200 runs he could have been out three times, but each chance was missed.

[5] Roe's record was beaten by James Stewart Carrick in 1885, when the latter scored 419 not out for the West of Scotland against Priory Park, Chichester.

[14] In Haygarth's Cricket Scores and Biographies, Roe is described as a "fine, free hitter with excellent defence", who could also "bowl a very useful medium-paced ball".

He scored three fifties, and accumulated 272 runs in all for the county, second only to the club captain, Ted Sainsbury.

[32] One of his highlights during this period was an innings against Gloucestershire in which he scored 75 runs to help Somerset set up a large victory.

Roe only passed 50 once that season, and accumulated less than half as many runs as in the previous year, scoring 192 at an average of 21.33.

He scored a cautious century against Sussex at the start of August,[40] and then a more attacking one at the end of the month against Surrey.

[41] Roe's performances led the Bath Chronicle to note in their season review that "there was plenty of cricket still left in him.