Roberts,
Frederick Sleigh, 1st Earl Roberts of Kandahar, Pretoria,
and Waterford
British
soldier, second son of General Sir Abraham Roberts,
G.C.B., was born at Cawnpore, India, on the 30th September
1832. Educated at Eton, Sandhurst and Addiscombe,
he obtained a commission in the Bengal Artillery on
12th December 1851. In the following year he was posted
to a field battery at Peshawar, where he also acted
as aide-decamp to his father, who commanded the Peshawar
division. In 1856 Roberts was appointed to the quartermaster-generals
department of the staff, in which he remained for
twenty-two years, passing from one grade to another
until he became quartermaster-general in India. On
the outbreak of the Mutiny in 1857, Roberts, at first,
was staff officer to the movable column operating
against the mutineerS in the Punjab, successively
commanded by Colonels Neville Chamberlain and John
Nicholson, but, towards the end of June, he joined
the Delhi Field Force, and was deputy assistant quartermastergeneral
with the artillery during the operations against Delhi.
He was wounded in the fight of the 14th July, but
was sufficiently recovered in September to take command
as a Regimental officer of the left half of No. 2
Siege Battery during the siege. He rejoined the headquarters
staff for the assault, and took part in the storm
and subsequent seven days fighting in the city. He
then. accompanied Colonel Greatheds column to Cawnpore,
and during September and October was present at the
actions of Bulandshahr, Aligarh, Agra, Bithur and
Kanauj. He served under Sir Cohn Campbell at the second
relief of Lucknow in November, at the battle of Cawnpore
on the 6th December, and the subsequent pursuit and
defeat of the Gwalior contingent near Shinrajpur.
Roberts distinguished himself at the engagement of
Khudaganj, on the 2nd January 1858, by capturing,
in single-handed combat, a standard from two sepoys,
and also by cutting down a sepoy about to kill a sowar.
For these acts of gallantry he was recommended for
the Victoria Cross. He was present at the reoccupation.
of Fatehgarh on the 6th January, the storm of Mianganj
in February, the siege and capture of Lucknow in March,
and the action at Kursi on the 22nd of that month,
after which he went home on sick leave. For his services
in the Mutiny he was seven times mentioned in despatches,
received the medal with three clasps, the Victoria
Cross, and on his promotion to captain, in October
186o, a brevet majority. On the 17th of May 1859 he
married, at Waterford, Miss Nora Bews, and on his
return to India was entrusted with the organization
of the viceroys camps during the progresses through
Oudh, the North-West Provinces, the Punjab and Central
India in 1860 and 1861. In December 1863 he took part,
under Major-General Garvock, in the Umbeyla campaign
among the mountains to the north of Peshawar, and
was present at the storm of Lalu, the capture of Umbeyla,
and the destruction of Mulka, receiving for his services
the medal and clasp.
In 1867 Roberts was appointed assistant quartermaster
general to Sir Donald Stewarts Bengal Brigade for
Abyssinia. He showed judgment in embarking each unit
complete in every detail, instead of despatching camp
equipage in one ship, transport in another, and so
on, as was customary. He arrived at Zula, Annesley
Bay, in the Red Sea, the base of the expedition, on
the 3rd February 1868, and remained there as senior
base staff officer during the four months campaign.
At its close he superintended the re-embarkation.
of the whole army. His duties were so well performed
that Sir Robert Napier sent him home with his final
despatches. He was three times mentioned, and received
a brevet lieutenant-colonelcy and the war medal. He
returned to India the following year as first assistant
quartermaster-general. In the autumn of 1871 he made
the arrangements for the expedition into Lushai, between
south-east Bengal and Burma, fitted out two columns
under Brigadiers-General Bourchier and Brownlow, and
himself accompanied the first. A road, over 100 metres
long, was cut through dense gloomy forests in stifling
heat, and the column was attacked by cholera; but
the object of the expedition was successfully accomplished,
and Roberts, who was present at the capture of the
Kholel villages and the action in the Northlang range,
and commanded the troops at the burning of Taikum,
was mentioned in despatches and made a Companion of
the Bath. On his return in March 1872, he became deputy
quartermaster-general in Bengal, and in 1875 quartermaster
general and colonel. He settled the details of the
great camp of exercise at Delhi on the occasion of
the visit of the prince of Wales in January 1876,
and attended H.R.H. at the manoeuvres. He also superintended
the arrangements for the great durbar at Delhi on
the 1st January 1877, when Queen Victoria was proclaimed
empress of India.
In
1878 Roberts was appointed to the command of the Frontier
Field Force at Abbottabad, in Hazara; but in the autumn,
on the repulse of the Chamberlain Mission by the Afghans,
and the formation of three columns to advance into
Afghanistan by the Khyher, the Bolan and the Kurram
passes, he was given the command of the Kurram Field
Force, with the rank of major-general. Concentrating
his column at Thai, he advanced to Kurram towards
the end of November, and having formed an advanced,
base there, moved on to Habib Lila. Under cover of
preparations for a front attack on the Peiwar Kotal,
he reconnoitred that formidable position, and on the
night of the 1st December moved part of his force
to attack the Spingawi Kotal, in order to turn the
Afghan left flank, leaving the remainder of the force
tofeign a front attack on the Peiwar, and to guard
the camp. After a very difficult night march the Spingawi
Kotal was carried at daybreak on the 2nd, and, later,
the Afghans on the Peiwar Kotal, threatened in rear,
abandoned the position. The next morning Roberts occupied
the Peiwar, and on the 6th advanced to Au Khel. He
reconnoitred the Shutargardan and the Sapari passes,
and made a strong reconnaissance through Khost, in
which some fighting took place, and at the end of
January returned to Hagir Pb, in Kurram, where his,
force remained in occupation. In July Major Cavagnari,
the British envoy to the new~ amir, Yakub Khan., passed
through Kurram on his way to Kabul, and, shortly afterwards,
Roberts left his Kurram command and went to Simla
to take his seat on the army commission, where he
strongly advocated the abolition of the three Presidency
armies, and the substitution for them of four army
corps, a measure which was carried out sixteen years
later. While he was at Simla, news arrived on the
5th of September of the murder of Cavagnari and his
companions at Kabul. The Peshawar Valley Force had
been broken up; Sir Donald Stewart was still at Kandahar,
but most of his troops had started for India; Roberts,
therefore, had the only force ready to strike rapidly
at Kabul. It was hastily reinforced, and he hurried
back to Kurram to take command, as a lieutenantgeneral,
of the Kabul Field Force (7,500 men and 22 guns).
By the 19th September a brigade was entrenched on
the Shutargardan, and as Roberts advanced, the Amir
Yakub Khan came into his camp. An Afghan force of
8,000 men blocked the way in a strong position on
the heights beyond Charasia, and on the 6th October
Roberts repeated the tactics that had done him such
good service at the Peiwar in the previous year, and
sending Brigadier-General T. D. Baker with the greater
part of his force to turn the Afghan. right flank,
threatened the pass in front with the remainder. By
the afternoon Baker had seized the position, and the
enemy, severely defeated, were in full retreat Kabul
was occupied without further opposition.
The
city was spared, but punishment was meted out to those
convicted of complicity in the murder of the British
Mission. Yakub Khan abdicated on the 12th October,
and was eventually deported to India. The troops occupied
the Sherpur cantonments; but in November a religious
war was proclaimed by the Mullahs, and early in December,
in order to prevent a threatening combination of Afghan
tribes against him, Roberts moved out two columns
to attack them in detnil. After considerable fighting
around Kabul, the numbers of the enemy were so great
that he was forced to concentrate his troops again
at Sherpur, the defences of which had been greatly
improved and strengthened. Sherpur was invested by
the enemy, and early on the 23rd December was attacked
by over 100,000 Afghans. They were driven off with
great loss; and on making a second attempt to storm
the place, were met by Roberts, who moved out, attacked
them in flank, and defeated them, when they broke
and dispersed. Roberts now recommended the political
dismemberment of Afghanistan, and negotiations were
carried on with the northern tribes for the appointmnt
of an emir for the Kabul district only. On the 5th
May Sir Donald Stewart arrived with his Column from
Kndahar and assumed the supreme command in Afghanistan,
Roberts retaining, under Stewart, the command of the
two Kabul divisions, and organizing an efficient transport
corps under Colonel R. Low, which was soon to be of
inestimable value. On the 22nd July Abdur Rahman was
proclaimed Amir of Kabul; and Roberts was preparing
to withdraw his troops to India by the Kurram route,
when news arrived that a British brigade had been
totally defeated at Maiwand on the 27th July, and
that Lieutenant-General Primrose was besieged in Kandahar.
Roberts was ordered to proceed thither at once with
a specially selected column of 10,000 troops and his
new transport corps. He started on his famous march
on the 9th August and arrived at Kandahar on the morning
of the 31st, having covered 313 miles in twenty-two
days. On the following day he fought the battle of
Kandahar and gained a complete victory. His services
in the Afghan campaigns of 1878 to 1880 are recorded
in eight Gazettes, and were recognized by the thanks
of both Houses of Parliament, of the Government of
India, and of the Governor-General in Council. He
was created K.C.B., G.C.B. and a baronet, received
the medal with four clasps and the bronze star, and
was given the command of the Madras army.
Before
proceeding to Madras, Roberts went home on furlough,
and when the news of the disaster at Majuba Hill in
South Africa arrived in London at the end of February
1881, he was appointed governor of Natal and commander-in-chief
in South Africa. He arrived at Cape Town to find that
peace had been made with the Boers, and that instructions
were awaiting him to return home. The same year he
attended the autumn man ceuvres in Hanover as the
guest of the German emperor. He declined the post
of quartermaster-general to the forces in succession
to Sir Garnet Wolseley, and returned to India, arriving
at Madras in November. The following year he visited
Burma with the viceroy, and in 1885 attended the meeting
between Abdur Rahrnan and Lord Dufferin at Rawalpindi
at the time of the Panjdeh incident, in connection
with which he had been nominated to the command of
an army corps in case of hostilities. In July he succeeded
Sir Donald Stewart as commander-in-chief in India,
and during his seven years tenure of this high position
instituted many measures for the benefit of the army,
and greatly assisted the development of frontier communications
and defence. At the end of 1886, at the, request of
the viceroy, he took personal command for a time of
the forces in Burma, and organized measures for the
suppression of dacoity. For his services he received
the medal, was created G.C.I.E., and promoted supernumerary
general. In 1890 he did the honors of the army to
Prince Albert Victor at a standing camp at Muridki,
and in 1891 his attention was occupied with the Zhob
and Hunza Nagar frontier campaigns. On the 1st January
1892 he was raised to the peerage as Baron Roberts
of Kandahar and Waterford. In 1893 he left India for
good, and the G.C.S.I. was bestowed upon him. He was
promoted to be field-marshal in 1895, and in the autumn
of that year succeeded Lord Wolseley in the Irish
command and was sworn a privy councillor. At Queen
Victoria's diamond jubilee in 1897 he was created
K.P.
After
the disastrous actions in the Boer war in South Africa
in December 1899 at Magersfontein, Stormberg and Colenso,
where his only son was killed, Lord Roberts was sent
out as commander-in-chief. He arrived at Cape Town
on the 10th January 1900, and after organising his
force, advanced with sound strategy on Bloemfontein,
the capital of the Orange Free State, and soon changed
the aspect of affairs. The sieges of Kimberley and
Ladysmith were raised, and the Boer general, Cronje,
flying towards the capital, was overtaken at Paardeberg
and, after a fine defence, compelled to surrender,
with 5,000 men, on the anniversary of Majuba Day,
the 27th February 1900. Roberts entered Bloemfontein
on the 13th March, and after six weeks preparation,
advanced on Pretoria, the capital of the Transvaal.
Mafeking was relieved on the 17th May, and Pretoria
occupied on the 5th June. The two Boer states were
annexed, and the war gradually assuming a guerilla
character, Roberts handed over the command to Lord
Kitchener and returned to England to fill the office
of commander-in-chief of the army in succession to
Lord Wolseley.
He
arrived in the Solent on the 2nd January 1901, and
the same day, at Osborne, had an audience of Queen
Victoria, who handed him the insignia of the Order
of the Garter. The next day he was received at Paddington
by the prince and princess of Wales, and drove in
procession to Buckingham Palace, where he was entertained
as the guest of the queen. He again had an audience
of the queen at Osborne on the 14th January on his
elevation to an earldom, the last audience given by
her majesty before her death, which took place eight
days later. When the, German emperor came to London
for the queens funeral, he decorated Lord Roberts
with the Order of the Black Eagle. Earl Roberts received
the thanks of both Houses of Parliament and a grant
of £I00,000 for his services in South Africa.
In 1905 he resigned his post on the Committee of National
Defence, and devoted himself to attempting to rouse
his countrymen to the necessity of cultivating rifleshooting
and of adopting systematic general military training
and service.