He soon had an extensive general practice, and, on his appointment in 1827 to the post of surgeon to the Manchester Lying-in Hospital, turned his special attention to midwifery and to the physiology and diseases of women and children.
From 1830 onwards he wrote a series of scientific papers for the Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal on the time of onset of female puberty in various countries, which led James Cowles Prichard to alter some of the conclusions which he had arrived at in the earlier editions of his Physical History of Mankind.
These, along with other similar papers, are reprinted in Roberton's most important work, Essays and Notes on the Physiology and Diseases of Women and on Practical Midwifery (London, 1851).
[2] Roberton's advice was largely sought in the discipline in which he had specialized, obstetrics, and he was aware of the broader social and medical context of his work.
He helped much to extend the fame of the Manchester school of obstetrics founded by Charles White and continued by John Hull and Thomas Radford.