Frederick Roberts, 1st Earl Roberts
Frederick Sleigh Roberts, 1st Earl Roberts, was a British Victorian era general who became one of the most successful British military commanders of his time. Born in India to an Anglo-Irish family, Roberts joined the East India Company Army and served as a young officer in the Indian Rebellion during which he was awarded the Victoria Cross for gallantry. He was then transferred to the British Army and fought in the Expedition to Abyssinia and the Second Anglo-Afghan War, in which his exploits earned him widespread fame. Roberts would go on to serve as the Commander-in-Chief, India, before leading British forces for a year during the Second Boer War. He also became the last Commander-in-Chief of the Forces before the post was abolished in 1904.
A man of small stature, Roberts was affectionately known to his troops and the wider British public as "Bobs" and revered as one of Britain's leading military figures at a time when the British Empire reached the height of its power. He became a symbol for the British Army and in later life became an influential proponent of stronger defence in response to the increasing threat that the German Empire posed to Britain in the lead-up to the First World War.
Early life
Born at Cawnpore, India, on 30 September 1832, Roberts was the son of General Sir Abraham Roberts, who had been born into an Anglo-Irish family in County Waterford in the south-east of Ireland. At the time, Sir Abraham was commanding the 1st Bengal European Regiment. Roberts was named Sleigh in honour of the garrison commander, Major General William Sleigh. His mother was Edinburgh-born Isabella Bunbury, daughter of Major Abraham Bunbury from Kilfeacle in County Tipperary.Roberts was educated at Eton, Sandhurst, and Addiscombe Military Seminary before entering the East India Company Army as a second lieutenant with the Bengal Artillery on 12 December 1851. He became Aide-de-Camp to his father in 1852, transferred to the Bengal Horse Artillery in 1854 and was promoted to lieutenant on 31 May 1857.
Indian Rebellion of 1857
Roberts fought in the Indian Rebellion of 1857, seeing action during the siege and capture of Delhi where he was slightly wounded, and found a dying John Nicholson amidst the chaos of the battle. He was then present at the relief of Lucknow where, as Deputy Assistant Quartermaster-General, he was attached to the staff of Sir Colin Campbell, Commander-in-Chief, India. He was awarded the Victoria Cross for actions on 2 January 1858 at Khudaganj. The citation reads:He was also mentioned in despatches for his service at Lucknow in March 1858. In common with other officers, he transferred from the East India Company Army to the Indian Army that year.
Abyssinia and Afghanistan
Having been promoted to second captain on 12 November 1860 and to brevet major on 13 November 1860, Roberts transferred to the British Army in 1861 and served in the Umbeyla and Abyssinian campaigns of 1863 and 1867–1868 respectively. Having been promoted to brevet lieutenant colonel on 15 August 1868 and to the substantive rank of captain on 18 November 1868, Roberts also fought in the Lushai campaign of 1871–1872 which was directed at the chiefs Vonolel, Lalbura and Bengkhuaia to recover the captive Mary Winchester.He was promoted to the substantive rank of major on 5 July 1872, appointed Companion of the Order of the Bath on 10 September 1872 and promoted to brevet colonel on 30 January 1875. That year he became Quartermaster-General of the Bengal Army.
He was given command of the Kurram Valley Field Force in October 1878 and took part in the Second Anglo-Afghan War. For his success at the Battle of Peiwar Kotal in December 1878, he received the thanks of Parliament, was promoted to the substantive rank of major general on 31 December 1878 and was advanced to Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath on 25 July 1879.
The Treaty of Gandamak of May 1879 brought peace with Afghanistan. However, after the murder of Sir Louis Cavagnari, the British envoy in Kabul, in September 1879, the second phase of the war began. Roberts was put in command of the Kabul Field Force and despatched to Kabul to seek retribution. After victory at the Battle of Charasiab on 6 October 1879, Roberts occupied Kabul, and was given the local rank of lieutenant-general on 11 November 1879. In December 1879, Roberts' force was besieged in the Sherpur Cantonment outside Kabul until, on 23 December, he repulsed a mass attack and reoccupied the city. In May 1880, Lieutenant General Sir Donald Stewart arrived in Kabul from Kandahar with a further 7,200 troops, taking over the Kabul command from Roberts.
After the defeat of a British brigade at Maiwand near Kandahar on 27 July 1880, Roberts was appointed commander of the Kabul and Kandahar Field Force. He led his 10,000 troops across 300 miles of rough terrain to relieve Kandahar and defeat Ayub Khan at the Battle of Kandahar on 1 September 1880. For his services, Roberts again received the thanks of Parliament, and was advanced to Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath on 21 September 1880 and appointed Companion of the Order of the Indian Empire during 1880.
After a very brief interval as Governor of Natal and Governor and Commander-in-Chief of the Transvaal Province and High Commissioner for South Eastern Africa with effect from 7 March 1881, Roberts, having become a baronet on 11 June 1881, was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Madras Army on 16 November 1881. Promoted to the substantive rank of lieutenant general on 26 July 1883, he became Commander-in-Chief, India, on 28 November 1885 and was advanced to Knight Commander of the Order of the Indian Empire on 15 February 1887 and to Knight Grand Commander of the Order of the Indian Empire on reorganisation of the Order on 21 June 1887. This was followed by his promotion to a supernumerary general on 28 November 1890 and to the substantive rank of general on 31 December 1891. On 23 February 1892, he was created Baron Roberts, of Kandahar in Afghanistan and of the City of Waterford.
Ireland
After relinquishing his Indian command and becoming Knight Grand Commander of the Order of the Star of India on 3 June 1893, Roberts was relocated to Ireland as Commander-in-Chief of British forces there from 1 October 1895. He was promoted field marshal on 25 May 1895 and created a knight of the Order of St Patrick in 1897.While in Ireland, Roberts completed a memoir of his years in India, which was published in 1897 as Forty-one Years in India: from Subaltern to Commander-in-chief.
Second Anglo-Boer War
On 23 December 1899 Roberts left England to return to South Africa with his chief of staff Lord Kitchener on the RMS Dunottar Castle to take overall command of British forces in the Second Boer War, subordinating the previous commander, General Redvers Buller. He arrived in Cape Town on 10 January 1900. His appointment was a response to a string of defeats in the early weeks of the war and was accompanied by the despatch of huge reinforcements. For his headquarters staff, he appointed military men from far and wide: Kitchener from the Sudan, Frederick Burnham, the American scout, from the Klondike, George Henderson from the Staff College, Neville Chamberlain from Afghanistan and William Nicholson from Calcutta. Roberts launched a two-pronged offensive, personally leading the advance across the open veldt into the Orange Free State, while Buller sought to eject the Boers from the hills of Natal – during which Lord Roberts' son was killed, earning a posthumous V.C.Having raised the Siege of Kimberley, at the Battle of Paardeberg on 27 February 1900 Roberts forced the Boer General Piet Cronjé to surrender with some 4,000 men. After another victory at Poplar Grove, Roberts captured the Free State capital Bloemfontein on 13 March. His further advance was delayed by his disastrous attempt to reorganise his army's logistic system on the Indian Army model in the midst of the war. The resulting chaos and shortage of supplies contributed to a severe typhoid epidemic that inflicted far heavier losses on the British forces than they suffered in combat.
On 3 May, Roberts resumed his offensive towards the Transvaal, capturing its capital Pretoria on 31 May. Having defeated the Boers at Diamond Hill and linked up with Buller, he won the last victory of his career at Bergendal on 27 August.
Strategies devised by Roberts, to force the Boer commandos to submit, included concentration camps and the burning of farms. Conditions in the concentration camps, which had been conceived by Roberts as a form of control of the families whose farms he had destroyed, began to degenerate rapidly as the large influx of Boers outstripped the ability of the small British force to cope. The camps lacked space, food, sanitation, medicine, and medical care, leading to rampant disease and a very high death rate for those Boers who entered. By the war's end, 26,370 women and children had died in the concentration camps. For a brief period in 1900, Roberts also authorised the army's use of civilian hostages for the protection of trains from Boer guerrilla units.
With the Boer republics' main towns occupied, and the war apparently effectively over, on 12 December 1900 Roberts handed over command to Lord Kitchener. Roberts returned to England to receive yet more honours: he was made a Knight Companion of the Order of the Garter and also created Earl Roberts, of Kandahar in Afghanistan and Pretoria in the Transvaal Colony and of the City of Waterford, and Viscount St Pierre.
He became a Knight of Grace of the Order of St John on 11 March 1901 and then a Knight of Justice of that order on 3 July 1901. He was also awarded the German Order of the Black Eagle during the Kaiser's visit to the United Kingdom in February 1901. He was among the original recipients of the Order of Merit in the 1902 Coronation Honours list published on 26 June 1902, and received the order from King Edward VII at Buckingham Palace on 8 August 1902.