Jean Roberts was born at 36 Avenue Road in Springburn,Oxford Dictionary of National Biography; Jean Roberts Glasgow on 20 December 1895 the daughter of Mary Nevin, and her husband Walter Weir (1867-1926), a railway engineer of Fulton & Weir. Her parents seem to have separated soon after (or perhaps slightly before) her birth, as her father then married Helen Granger, his cousin. The family then lived at Ravenslea, a villa in Bearsden.Glasgow Post Office Directory 1895 She was raised in the Springburn area of Glasgow. She was educated locally at the Albert School then the Whitehill School in Dennistoun. She trained at Dundas Vale Teacher Training College.Biographical Dictionary of Scottish Women, Elizabeth Ewan She then became a primary school teacher at Bishop Street School in the city centre.
