Sir Gilbert Roberts was a British civil engineer.

He was born in Hampstead, London to Henry William Roberts, a pharmacist and educated at Bromley High School. He then went to Gresham College

Gresham College

Gresham College is an institution of higher learning located at Barnard's Inn Hall off Holborn in central London, England. It was founded in 1597 under the will of Sir Thomas Gresham and today it hosts over 140 free public lectures every year within the City of London.-History:Sir Thomas Gresham,...

 to study engineering but on the outbreak of war he joined the Royal Flying Corps

Royal Flying Corps

The Royal Flying Corps was the over-land air arm of the British military during most of the First World War. During the early part of the war, the RFC's responsibilities were centred on support of the British Army, via artillery co-operation and photographic reconnaissance...

. After being shot in the knee in 1918 on a bombing raid he was invalided back to England and awarded an Army Scholarship to attend City and Guilds College of Imperial College, where he obtained his degree in 1923. He became a civil engineer and worked on the Sydney Harbour Bridge

Sydney Harbour Bridge

The Sydney Harbour Bridge is a steel through arch bridge across Sydney Harbour that carries rail, vehicular, bicycle and pedestrian traffic between the Sydney central business district and the North Shore. The dramatic view of the bridge, the harbour, and the nearby Sydney Opera House is an iconic...

 (1932) and Otto Beit suspension bridge (1938) across the Zambezi river.

As a senior partner with the British firm Freeman Fox & Partners he designed, in collaboration with William Brown

William Brown (bridge designer)

William Brown was a structural engineer and bridge designer who specialised in suspension bridges. He is credited with the idea of designing bridge decks with an aerofoil-shaped cross section for stability in a wide variety of wind conditions.He was one of the principal designers at Freeman Fox &...

, the Volta River Bridge

Volta River

The Volta is a river in western Africa that drains into the Gulf of Guinea. It has three main tributaries—the Black Volta, White Volta and Red Volta...

 (1957), the Auckland Harbour Bridge

Auckland Harbour Bridge

The Auckland Harbour Bridge is an eight-lane box truss motorway bridge over the Waitemata Harbour, joining St Marys Bay in Auckland with Northcote in North Shore City, New Zealand. The bridge is part of State Highway 1 and the Auckland Northern Motorway...

 (1959–1971), the Forth Road Bridge

Forth Road Bridge

The Forth Road Bridge is a suspension bridge in east central Scotland. The bridge, opened in 1964, spans the Firth of Forth, connecting the capital city Edinburgh, at South Queensferry, to Fife, at North Queensferry...

 (1964), the Severn Bridge

Severn Bridge

The Severn Bridge is a suspension bridge spanning the River Severn between South Gloucestershire, just north of Bristol, England, and Monmouthshire in South Wales, via Beachley, a peninsula between the River Severn and River Wye estuary. It is the original Severn road crossing between England and...

 (1966), the Bosphorus Bridge

Bosphorus Bridge

The Bosphorus Bridge, also called the First Bosphorus Bridge is one of the two bridges in Istanbul, Turkey, spanning the Bosphorus strait and thus connecting Europe and Asia The bridge is located between Ortaköy and Beylerbeyi The Bosphorus Bridge, also called the First Bosphorus Bridge is...

 (1973) and the Humber Bridge

Humber Bridge

The Humber Bridge, near Kingston upon Hull, England, is a 2,220 m single-span suspension bridge, which opened to traffic on 24 June 1981. It is the fifth-largest of its type in the world...

 (1981).

He was knighted in 1965. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in Mar 1965. His application citation read "Distinguished for his contributions to civil engineering by advancing the design of structures, particularly long span bridges. Designer of Severn Bridge, Forth Bridge, Volta Bridge, Maidenhead Bridge, Auckland Harbour Bridge. Also contributed designs of other unusual structures, such as C.S.I.R.O.

Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation

The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation is the national government body for scientific research in Australia...

 Radio Telescope, High Marnham Power Station, the Dome of Discovery at the Festival of Britain

Festival of Britain

The Festival of Britain was a national exhibition in Britain in the summer of 1951. It was organised by the government to give Britons a feeling of recovery in the aftermath of war and to promote good quality design in the rebuilding of British towns and cities. The Festival's centrepiece was in...

 Exhibition, crane structures including 500 tons goliath crane for Babcock & Wilcox." He was awarded their Royal Medal

Royal Medal

The Royal Medal, also known as The Queen's Medal, is a silver-gilt medal awarded each year by the Royal Society, two for "the most important contributions to the advancement of natural knowledge" and one for "distinguished contributions in the applied sciences" made within the Commonwealth of...

in 1968.

He died in St Stephen's Hospital, London. He had married Elizabeth Nada Hora in London in 1935.