Jane Roberts (first lady)
Jane Rose Waring Roberts (née Waring; c. 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.
Jane Roberts | |
|---|---|
Roberts in 1854 | |
| Born | Jane Rose Waring c. 1819 Virginia, United States |
| Died | January 10, 1914 (aged 94–95) London, England |
| Resting place | Streatham Cemetery London, England |
| Nationality | American (Before 1824) Liberian (After 1824) |
| Spouse | |
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.