Frederick Davidson ("David") Robertswas born in Changsha, China, November 10, 1923. He and his identical twin, Clayton, were the third and fourth children of Ray and Eva (Rewalt) Roberts. During David's childhood, the family returned to the United States and after some years settled in Seattle. David and Clayton attended Whitman College and later transferred to University of Washington.

During World War II, the twins followed their father's pacifist convictions and were assigned to a conscientious objectors' camp in Oregon. In 1946, they returned to University of Washington, and completed their degrees in history in 1948. Both went on to become professionals in English history, and they co-authored a leading textbook in the subject that is still in print.

David completed his PhD at Yale in 1953, and returned to teach at University of Washington before accepting an appointment at Dartmouth College in 1957, where he taught until 1986. In 1956, David married Helene Leedy, later curator of visual collections at the Fine Arts Library at Harvard University and an editor of the journal, Visual Resources. Helene died in 2008.

In addition to his textbook, David was also the author of Victorian Origins of the British Welfare State (1961), Paternalism in Early Victorian England (1979) and The Social Conscience of the Early Victorians (2002). He was the first Charles and Elfriede Collis Professor of History at Dartmouth.

In 1948, David was one of a four-man team who performed the first ski descent down Mount Rainier. David remains one of the few who made both the ski ascent and ski descent on the mountain. He also excelled at basketball, tennis, and swimming. He credited his enthusiasm for skiing, at which he achieved world-class skill, with anchoring him at Dartmouth.

He was predeceased by his parents, his older brother Robert and his older sister Eleanor. He is survived by his twin brother Clayton and sister-in-law Anne of Houghton, Michigan, and by his nieces and nephews: David Roberts and his wife Sandra of Los Angeles, Donald Roberts and wife Joanna of San Diego, Leslie Clements and husband Eugene of San Francisco, Nancy Grunberg and husband Neil of Bethesda, MD, Cecily Selling and husband Geoffrey of Philadelphia, Bob Donjacour and wife Anne of San Francisco, Cathy Roberts of Mountain View CA, David Roberts and wife Lila of Cleveland OH, and Katie Ellingsworth, and 22 great-nieces and nephews, among whom his great-nephew Brian Roberts graduated from Dartmouth in 1993.

Arrangements are under the direction of Rand-Wilson Funeral Home, Hanover, NH.