At the age of 12, John Varley Roberts was appointed organist of nearby St John's, Farsley. He then went to study at the recently opened York and Ripon Diocesan Training College for Masters.1861 Census Piece: 3550; Folio: 5; Page: 3; GSU roll: 543150. In 1862 he became organist of St Bartholomew's, Armley. Varley Roberts was not Organist at the St Bartholomew's Church that we know today, complete with its world-famous Schulze organ, but the predecessor building and instrument, though he would have been there when the plans for the new building, though not the organ, were well advanced. By this time, Roberts wished to marry Elizabeth Yates Jane Maning, daughter of the Vicar of Farsley. The Reverend Maning strongly disapproved, however. For a time, her father may have sent her away in an attempt to cool Roberts’ ardour and break up the relationship,1861 Census: Class: RG 9; Piece: 423; Folio: 50; Page: 18; GSU roll: 542635. but the couple later eloped together. They were married in May 1866 at Ilkley Parish Church by licence, with no member of her family signing the register.West Yorkshire Archive Service; Wakefield, Yorkshire, England; Yorkshire Parish Records of Ilkley, All Saints 2. Elizabeth Varley Roberts died in July 1917.Magdalen College Papers, PR/2/12, pp. 146–7; MC: P96/N1/4 Their one child, Gertrude, was born in 1868. Varley Roberts gave his father's Rank or Profession as 'Gentleman' in the Marriage Register, though whether a 'Farmer of Seven Acres', formerly a Clothier, could really pass as a Gentleman in mid-nineteenth-century terms is a moot point.
