DEATH OF MR FRANK ROBERTS Thirty five years Service to Town .
MAN WHO HELPED CREATE MODERN WORTHING
VISION AND ABILITY
We deeply regret to announce that Mr Frank Roberts, M.I.C.E. water engineer to the Worthing Corporation and consulting borough surveyor, died at 3.15am on Friday morning at the house of his son in Cambridge. Mr Roberts was 72 years of age. He was appointed Coal Controller to Worthing during the war, and also filled the office of Coal Emergency Officer in the coal strike in 1931. Mr Roberts, who lived at 23 Shakespeare Road leaves a widow. In 1897 he was appointed borough surveyor, a position which he held for 25 years. He relinquished this position in 1922. Owing to the rapid growth of the borough, and the immense amount of work which was involved in the two offices of water engineer and surveyor, Mr Roberts requested that the offices should be severed from one another. The Council accepted his resignation with great regret, stating that he had "discharged his duties with conspicuous ability and with the utmost integrity." On his retirement Mr Roberts agreed to accept the position of borough water engineer and consulting borough surveyor. The present borough surveyor, Mr P. E. Harvey, O.B.E., was then appointed assistant water engineer and borough surveyor. The funeral will be held on Tuesday December 27th at St Paul's Church at 2.15pm and the interment at Heene Cemetery will follow at 2.45pm. Mr Roberts was probably the best known man in Worthing. His long record of service to the town brought him into contact with all classes of people, and in every quarter he was liked and admired for his courtesy, his friendliness and his ability. No one has had a larger share in the development of modern Worthing than Mr Roberts. He was man of vision and a man who, what was more, had the ability to create the practical out of his visions. On every hand in Worthing there is evidence of his careful planning and his shrewd judgment of what a growing town like Worthing would require to best enable her to take her rightful place amongst rival south coast resorts. Mr Roberts loved Worthing; he gave her. through long years, the best that was in him, and his death will be mourned by every section of the community. The deepest sympathy will go out to his widow who. with her husband, took such deep interest in charitable causes in Worthing. It is unnecessary to enumerate all the organisations which Mrs Roberts and her husband have served, for indeed, there can hardly be one which has not had the advantage of their kindly support. "He had proved an invaluable officer to the Corporation," said the Town Clerk. J. Kennedy Allerton, on Friday morning, “and it was hoped that his long experience would not have been lost to the town for many years".