The military history of Queen Victoria’s long reign is dominated by two renowned, albeit complex and controversial, commanders: Lord Roberts of Kandahar and Sir Garnet (later Viscount) Wolseley. Both of them, motivated in part by self-interest, worked tirelessly to promote the interests of the British Empire. Although they were rivals, they sometimes complemented one another. Each had his own ‘ring’ or ‘circle’ of very loyal and influential officers. The Wolseley (or ‘Ashanti’) ring included men like Redvers Buller; the Roberts (or ‘Indian’) ring included men like Ian Hamilton. Wolseley’s ring hailed their leader as ‘our only general’, which led Roberts’s followers to react by proclaiming him as ‘our other general’.1
Frederick Sleigh Roberts (known as ‘Fred’ to his family, and affectionately known as ‘Bobs’ by his troops) was born on 30 September 1832 in Cawnpore, India. He had the good fortune to come from what can be regarded as typical Victorian officers’ parentage. His father, Lieutenant Colonel (later General) Abraham Roberts, was a soldier of note and had fought in the First Anglo-Afghan War (1838–42). His mother, Isabella Bunbury, had previously been married to Major Hamilton Maxwell.
The Roberts family returned to England in 1834, where Fred was educated at Eton, the Royal Military College and the Honourable East India Company’s school; but he was no great scholar. In December 1851, he was commissioned as second lieutenant in the artillery, and gazetted to the Bengal army. After some four months in India, he joined his father as ADC and battery officer at Peshawar. He took part in the suppression of the Indian Mutiny (1857–58). During the final successful attack on Delhi (14 July 1857), Roberts received the first (and last) wound of his career, albeit a slight one, and his first (of many) mention in dispatches. On 2 January 1858, near the village of Khudaganj, he saved a standard as well as the life of a loyal Indian trooper, and in doing so, won the VC.2
Roberts returned to England because his health was breaking down. In England, he met Nora Henrietta Bews, and they married in May 1859. Some three weeks later, they sailed for India, where he joined the QMG’s department, which brought him into contact with the leading military and civil service personnel in India. He served in the Ambeyla Campaign on the North-West Frontier (1863), but then ill health forced him to return to England. In Abyssinia (1868), Roberts served as AQMG on the staff of Lieutenant General Robert Napier. He then returned to India, and in the Lushai Campaign (1871–72) for the first time led troops in battle.
30 September 1832 |
Frederick Sleigh Roberts born at Cawnpore (Kanpur), India Educated at Eton, Sandhurst and Addiscombe |
12 December 1851 |
Commissioned as Second Lieutenant, Bengal Artillery |
31 May 1857 |
Promoted First Lieutenant |
1857–58 |
Saw action in the suppression of the Indian Mutiny, wounded (14 July 1857), won the VC (2 January 1858) and earned seven mentions in dispatches |
17 May 1859 |
Married Nora Henrietta Bews |
12 November 1860 |
Promoted Captain |
13 November 1860 |
Promoted Brevet Major |
1863 |
Ambeyla Campaign, North-West Frontier, India |
1868 |
Abyssinian Campaign |
15 August 1868 |
Promoted Brevet Lieutenant Colonel |
1871–72 |
Lushai Campaign |
5 July 1872 |
Promoted Substantive Major |
30 January 1875 |
Promoted Colonel, Acting Major General and QMG, India |
1 April 1878 |
Commander, Punjab Frontier Force |
22 October 1878 |
Commander, Kurram Frontier Force |
31 December 1878 |
Promoted Substantive Major General |
5 September 1879 |
Commander, Kabul Field Force as Local Lieutenant General |
16 November 1880 |
Arrived back in England |
6 March 1881 |
Sailed for Cape Town (arrived 29 March, departed 30 March) |
14 June 1881 |
Created Baronet |
28 November 1881 |
Arrived in India and took over as C in C of the Madras Army |
26 July 1883 |
Promoted Substantive Lieutenant General |
4 November 1885 |
Appointed C in C of the Indian Army as Acting General |
28 November 1890 |
Promoted Substantive General |
1 January 1892 |
Created Baron Roberts of Kandahar |
8 April 1893 |
Left India for the last time |
25 May 1895 |
Promoted Field Marshal |
1 October 1895 |
Appointed C in C, Ireland |
22 December 1899 |
Appointed C in C of the British forces in South Africa |
28 November 1900 |
Relinquished South African command |
11 December 1900 |
Departed from South Africa |
2 January 1900 |
Created Earl Roberts of Kandahar, Waterford and Pretoria |
3 January 1900 |
Took up position of C in C of the British army |
8 February 1904 |
Retired as C in C of the British army |
14 November 1914 |
Died at St Omer, France |
19 November 1914 |
Buried in St Paul’s Cathedral, London |
Appointed CB, 1872; KCB, 1879; CIE, 1880; GCB, 1880; GCIE, 1887; GCSI, 1893; KP, 1897; KG, 1901; OM, 1902
Roberts played a decisive role in the Second Anglo-Afghan War (1878–80). In the first phase of the war, he led the Kurram Field Force to victory at the Peiwar Kotal, and in the second phase, first led the Kabul Field Force to retake the Afghan capital, and later marched from Kabul to Kandahar. This seemingly epic (but overrated) march made him a household name throughout the British Empire, and ensured him enduring fame as military commander. Roberts returned to England, but when news was received that George Colley had been defeated and killed at Majuba in Natal, Roberts was sent to South Africa in March 1881 as Natal’s new Governor and C in C. However, while he was still at sea, the British government decided to opt for a negotiated settlement. Roberts was furious, and within 24 hours of arriving in Cape Town, he was on his way back to England.
In November 1881, Roberts returned to India once more, to take up the post of C in C of the Madras army. He raised the standard of this army, improved the defence of the North-West Frontier and wrote on the defence of India and the threat that Russia posed to British interests. In November 1885, Roberts was appointed C in C of the Indian army. His primary concern was still the defence of the country against Russia, and consequently, he improved the fortifications and communications infrastructure on the frontiers. He also focussed his energy on several other tasks: he strengthened and reformed the Indian army; he re-equipped it with new weapons such as, for example, machine-guns; he improved training (especially with regard to musketry); and he recruited more of the so-called ‘martial races’ of northern India into its army. From November 1886 to February 1887, he commanded the British forces in the Third Anglo-Burmese War.
In April 1893, Roberts left Indian shores for the last time, and returned to England. As no suitable employment was immediately available, he wrote the autobiographical Forty-one Years in India, a best seller in its day. In May 1895, he was promoted Field Marshal, and in October 1895, appointed C in C, Ireland (as successor to Wolseley, who became C in C of the British army). When the Anglo-Boer War broke out on 11 October 1899, the Wolseley ring’s General Buller was appointed C in C, South Africa.3 Roberts was regarded as too old to take command in the field. Buller’s offensive failed, and in what became known as ‘Black Week’ (10–15 December), he suffered three defeats at the hands of an untrained citizen army. (At Colenso, on 15 December, Roberts’s son, Freddy, was mortally wounded.)
On more than one occasion, Roberts offered his services to the British government, and when the ‘Black Week’ defeats led to a public outcry in Britain and it became clear that Buller had not only lost the confidence of the British public and government, but also his nerve, the government approached Roberts to take over as C in C in South Africa. Roberts’s appointment was a victory of his ring over that of Wolseley’s. In practice, neither Wolseley (although he was the C in C) nor the Queen (who still supported Buller) was consulted with regard to Roberts’s appointment. Lord Kitchener was appointed as Roberts’s chief of staff. In practice, these two distinguished soldiers complemented each other to a remarkable degree.