Frederick Roberts, 1st Earl Roberts
Field Marshal Frederick Sleigh Roberts, 1st Earl Roberts, VC, KG, KP, GCB, OM, GCSI, GCIE, VD, PC, FRSGS (30 September 1832 – 14 November 1914) 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.
The Earl Roberts
Bobs
30 September 1832
Cawnpore, British India
14 November 1914 (aged 82)
St Omer, France
United Kingdom
1851–1904
Commander-in-Chief of the Forces
British troops in South Africa
Commander-in-Chief, Ireland
Commander-in-Chief, India
Commander-in-Chief in Madras
Governor of Natal
Kabul and Kandahar Field Force
Kabul Field Force
Kurram Valley Field Force
Victoria Cross
Knight Companion of the Order of the Garter
Knight of the Order of St Patrick
Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath
Member of the Order of Merit
Knight Grand Commander of the Order of the Star of India
Knight Grand Commander of the Order of the Indian Empire
Knight of Grace of the Order of St John
Mentioned in Despatches
Frederick Roberts (son)
Sir Abraham Roberts (father)
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.[1] 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.[2]
Early life[edit]
Born at Cawnpore, India, on 30 September 1832, Roberts was the son of General Sir Abraham Roberts,[3] who had been born into an Anglo-Irish family in County Waterford in the south-east of Ireland.[3] At the time, Sir Abraham was commanding the 1st Bengal European Regiment.[4] Roberts was named Sleigh in honour of the garrison commander, Major General William Sleigh.[3] His mother was Edinburgh-born Isabella Bunbury,[3] daughter of Major Abraham Bunbury from Kilfeacle in County Tipperary.[5]
Roberts was educated at Eton,[3] Sandhurst,[3] and Addiscombe Military Seminary[3] before entering the East India Company Army as a second lieutenant with the Bengal Artillery on 12 December 1851.[3] 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.[6]
Ireland[edit]
After relinquishing his Indian command and becoming Knight Grand Commander of the Order of the Star of India (GCSI) on 3 June 1893,[34] Roberts was relocated to Ireland as Commander-in-Chief of British forces there from 1 October 1895.[35] He was promoted field marshal on 25 May 1895[36] and created a knight of the Order of St Patrick in 1897.[37]
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.[38]
On 28 February 1908 he was awarded the Volunteer Officers' Decoration in recognition of his honorary service in the Volunteer Force.[85]
His long list of honorary military posts included: honorary colonel of the 2nd London Corps from 24 September 1887,[86] honorary colonel of the 5th Battalion, the Sherwood Foresters (Derbyshire Regiment) from 29 December 1888,[87] honorary colonel of the 1st Newcastle upon Tyne (Western Division), Royal Artillery from 18 April 1894,[88] honorary colonel of the Waterford Artillery (Southern Division) from 4 March 1896,[89] colonel-commandant of the Royal Artillery from 7 October 1896,[90] honorary colonel of the 3rd Battalion, Loyal North Lancashire Regiment from 1 January 1898,[91] honorary colonel of the City of London Imperial Volunteers from 10 March 1900,[92] honorary colonel of the 3rd Volunteer Battalion, the Gloucestershire Regiment from 5 September 1900,[93] colonel of the Irish Guards from 17 October 1900,[94] honorary colonel of the 2nd Hampshire (Southern Division), Royal Garrison Artillery from 15 August 1901,[95] honorary colonel of the 3rd (Dundee Highland) Volunteer Battalion, the Black Watch (Royal Highlanders) from 19 September 1903,[96] honorary colonel of the North Somerset Yeomanry from 1 April 1908,[97] honorary colonel of the 6th Battalion, the City of London (Rifles') Regiment from 1 April 1908,[98] honorary colonel of the 1st Wessex Brigade from 1 April 1908,[99] honorary colonel of 6th Battalion, The Gloucestershire Regiment from 1 April 1908,[100] honorary colonel of The Waterford Royal Field Reserve Artillery from 2 August 1908[101] and honorary colonel of 1st (Hull) Battalion, The East Yorkshire Regiment from 11 November 1914 (three days before his death).[102] Additionally he was Colonel of the National Reserve from 5 August 1911.[103]
Lord Roberts received civic honours from a number of universities, cities and livery companies, including:
In 1893 he was made an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Scottish Geographical Society (FRSGS).[115]
Roberts married Nora Henrietta Bews, the daughter of Captain John Bews on 17 May 1859. The couple had the following six children of whom three, a son and two daughters, survived infancy:[3]
Roberts' son, The Hon. Frederick Roberts, VC, was killed in action on 17 December 1899 at the Battle of Colenso during the Boer War. Roberts and his son were one of only three pairs of fathers and sons to be awarded the VC. Today, their Victoria Crosses are in the National Army Museum. His barony became extinct, but, by the special remainder granted with them, he was succeeded in the earldom and viscountcy by his elder surviving daughter, Aileen.[116] She was succeeded by her younger sister, Ada Edwina.[3]
Legacy[edit]
In March 1898, a statue of Lord Roberts, sculpted by Harry Bates, was unveiled on the Maidan in Calcutta.[117] The statue of Roberts on horseback sits on a pedestal with reliefs on each side depicting Sikh, Highlander and Gurkha cavalry and infantry, and statues of Britannia/Victory and India/Fortitude in front and behind. After the statue was commissioned Roberts started sitting for the sculptor in 1894 and a bust was displayed at the Royal Academy of Arts in 1896.[117]
After Roberts' death in 1914, money was raised to place a copy of the Calcutta statue as a memorial in Kelvingrove Park, Glasgow.[117][118] Almost identical to the original statue, the memorial in Glasgow only includes minor changes like the inclusion of a quote from a speech Roberts gave in Glasgow in 1913 to promote national service.[117] "I seem to see the gleam in the near distance of the weapons and accoutrements of this Army of the future, this Citizen Army, the wonder of these islands, and the pledge of peace and of the continued greatness of this Empire." The memorial was unveiled by his widow.[119]
A second copy of the statue was erected on Horse Guards Parade in London and unveiled in 1924.[117][120] It is smaller and simpler than the other two, and sits on a simpler pedestal without the reliefs or extra figures. After Indian independence from the British Empire, the Roberts statue in Calcutta was moved with other statues to Barrackpore in the 1970s, and then by itself to the Artillery Centre, Nashik Road.[117]
Roberts Barracks at Larkhill Garrison[121] and the town of Robertsganj in Uttar Pradesh are named after him.[122]
Lord Roberts French Immersion Public School in London, Ontario,[123] Lord Roberts Junior Public School in Scarborough, Ontario,[124] and Lord Roberts Elementary Schools in Vancouver, British Columbia,[125] and Winnipeg, Manitoba are named after him.[126] Roberts is also a Senior Boys house at the Duke of York's Royal Military School.[127]
The Lord Roberts Centre – a facility at the National Shooting Centre built for the 2002 Commonwealth Games, and HQ of the National Smallbore Rifle Association (which Roberts was fundamental in founding) is named in his honour.[128]
On 29 May 1900, Pretoria surrendered to the British commander-in-chief, Lord Roberts.[129] Due to the prevalence of malaria and because the area had become too small, he relocated his headquarters from the vicinity of the Normal College to a high-lying site 10 km south-west of the city – hence the name Roberts Heights.[129] Roberts Heights, a busy military town, the largest in South Africa and resembling Aldershot, soon developed. On 15 December 1938, the name was changed to Voortrekkerhoogte[129] and again to Thaba Tshwane on 19 May 1998.[130]
On a visit to the Victoria Falls, one of the larger islands just upstream of the Falls was named Kandahar Island in his honour.[131]
The grave of Roberts' charger Vonolel (named after a Lushai King whose descendants Roberts had fought in 1871) is marked by a headstone in the gardens of The Royal Hospital Kilmainham, in Dublin.[132]
Mount Roberts in British Columbia, Canada, was named in his honour in 1900.[133]