Jane Rose Roberts

Jane Rose Waring Roberts (née Waring; 1819 – January 10, 1914) emigrated as a child with her free African-American family to the Colony of Liberia, where she was educated and grew up as a member of the Americo-Liberian community.

She married politician Joseph Jenkins Roberts, also an American immigrant, who was appointed as governor of the colony. When he was elected President after Liberia's independence, she served as the first First Lady of the Republic of Liberia from 1848 to 1856. After he was re-elected, she served again from 1872 to 1876. She accompanied him on numerous diplomatic trips to other nations. She also promoted women's education.

As a widow, Roberts traveled to the United Kingdom in the late nineteenth century to raise funds to build a hospital in Monrovia; she met with Queen Victoria for a second time. From 1906 to her death, she lived in London with a political black couple, former mayor John Archer and his wife. She was interred at Streatham Cemetery in the city.

Early life Jane Rose Waring was born free in the American state of Virginia around 1819. Her father, Colston Waring, was a minister and a successful businessman. He sold his notable holdings in the United States in order to emigrate via the American Colonization Society to Liberia, a newly established colony in West Africa.

Emigration to Liberia Jane's mother and her six children, including four-year-old Jane, followed Colston Waring and arrived in Liberia on February 13, 1824, having sailed on the Cyrus. Two of Jane's brothers, one older and one younger, died of "fever" in the first year. Another older brother and an older sister died in 1828. Colston Waring was appointed as vice colonial agent of Liberia and died in 1838.

Jane Waring was educated in Monrovia. She learned to read and write, and speak fluent French as well as English.

Marriage and family

In 1836, Waring at about the age of 17 married Joseph Jenkins Roberts. A widower, he was a free-born merchant from Virginia who had immigrated in 1829 to Liberia with his young family.

Waring's marriage to Roberts connected the two families, consolidating their wealth and social status. The couple had one child together, Sarah Ann Roberts, in 1838. They sent her to England for much of her education. Sarah Ann married William A. Johnson. She took a role in educating some Liberian children. French President Louis Napoleon III met with the couple twice, including in 1851. Later his government donated equipment to the Liberian military. While raising money, she visited the United States, where she dined with President Grover Cleveland and his wife at the White House.

Decades later, African-American artist Elton Fax drew a quick illustration of this Roberts/Ricks-Queen Victoria meeting and a larger portrait of Roberts, based on the 1905 photograph on this page, and entitled "They'll Never Die". The brief piece was published in 1949 in local newspapers.

Roberts returned to England after the turn of the century. From 1906 until her death, she lived in London with a British couple, politician John Archer, the first black mayor of Battersea, a borough of London, and his wife Bertha. She was one of the oldest members of the Liberian community. She was interred at Streatham Cemetery in London.