This pair of portraits by the Scottish-born painter and printmaker George Baird Shaw are thought to depict publican Charles Warman Roberts (1821–1894) and his wife Annie (née Marsden, 1824–1895). Born in Sydney, Roberts followed his father into the hotel business, purchasing the license for the Crown & Anchor, situated on the corner of George and Market Streets in Sydney, around 1853. The eldest of his and Annie’s eight children, Charles James Roberts, managed the Crown & Anchor from 1867 until 1887, when Charles Warman Roberts again became its licensee. In 1888, it was rebuilt as the luxury Roberts Hotel – ‘a most imposing structure of five storeys’ that was ‘replete with every modern improvement’. Charles and Annie resided at a number of addresses in the eastern suburbs before settling in Rose Bay at a house named The Ferns, later known as Fernleigh Castle. The Roberts Hotel operated until 1919 when it was destroyed by fire. The site was sold to Farmer's & Co. and later became famous for the Gowings emporium built there in the 1920s.
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the Thoms family 2011
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