John Arthur Roebuck

John Arthur Roebuck was a Liberal Member of Parliament for Sheffield, and the leader of the Anglo-Confederate movement in the House of Commons during the second half of the American Civil War.  His leadership capabilities were questionable, as he was a radical considered by many of his peers to be reckless, and capable of alienating even members of his own party, especially Lord Palmerston.  In fact, after Roebuck made a motion in Parliament to officially recognise the Confederate States of America, which he retracted before it came to a division, Henry Adams said that ‘so far as our affair is concerned, Mr Roebuck has done us more good than all our friends’.

During the war, Roebuck was a member of the Southern Independence Association and a subscriber to the Confederate Cotton Loan.  His strong dislike of the American North was rooted in his growing up in Canada.