In 1910 William Roberts won a London County Council scholarship to the Slade School of Fine Art where he studied for three years. His contemporaries included Bomberg, Wadsworth, Nevinson, Gertler, Spencer and Nash. He was awarded a Slade scholarship in 1912 and the Melville Nettleship Prize for figure composition in 1913. Examples of his work are to be found in the Tate Gallery and other public collections.

'By the time of his first solo exhibition at the Chenil Galleries in 1923, the main characteristics of his work were already apparent. In the first place there is the concern with the human figure, and with people engaged in some specific activity'.

Ronald Alley, Retrospective Exhibition Catalogue. The Arts Council, November 1965.