Daniel James IV Roberts

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Mr Daniel James Roberts Name: Mr Daniel James Roberts, D.J. [ Deceased ] Date of birth: 17-Jan-1896 Adelaide, Eastern Cape, South Africa Date of death: 30-Dec-1961 Fort Beaufort, Eastern Cape, South Africa Profession: Farmer Nationality: South African :: Update Background Daniel Roberts, born on 17th January 1896 in Adelaide, was the son of Llewellyn and Florence Roberts. At the age of two he was stricken with polio which left him partially crippled. He grew up on the farm Baddaford and went to St Andrews College in Grahamstown.

At the age of 20 he took over the running of Baddaford on the premature death of his father. In 1920 he married his longtime sweetheart Isobel MacDonald.

Dan was a wonderful farmer. He gathered scientists of citriculture. His great thing was quality fruit. All early experiments on citrus were done at Baddaford but in 100 years there are always tragedies. The First World War stopped the export of fruit. Then, in 1924, a dreadful drought started. The rain only came in 1927. In 1931 the big House burnt – the stone walls remained and Dan rebuilt the house but was never able to replace the beautiful wood that his father had used.

In 1939, the Second World War began, stopping export of fruit again. Isobel planted vegetables between the trees and sold them to a canning factory in Port Elizabeth. But in 1942, Dan had a heart attack. In 1945 Dan’s health had collapsed but Llewellyn and Dan came back from the war and carried on with Dan senior’s advice.

Daniel Roberts died on 30th December 1961.