[1] He was born in Macao, China, the son of John William Roberts of the East India Company and was educated at Mr Styles' Classical Academy in Thames Ditton and at the Addiscombe Military Seminary for service in the East India Company (the HEIC).
[2] In 1823 he was sent by the HEIC to St Helena, where from 1826 he supervised the building of the Ladder Hill Observatory.
In 1835 he published A Catalogue of 606 Principal Fixed Stars in the Southern Hemisphere... at St. Helena, for which he won the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society that same year.
[4] While comparing his results with those of Nicolas Louis de Lacaille he noted the high proper motion of Alpha Centauri[5] and communicated these to Thomas Henderson at the Royal Observatory, Cape of Good Hope.
The initial instruments were invented and installed by Francis Ronalds, Honorary Director of the Kew Observatory.