Online Encyclopedia
Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.
ROBERTS, FREDERICK SLEIGH ROBERTS, EARL
Online EncyclopediaEncyclopedia Home :: RHY-RON
del.icio.us it!
|
See also:ROBERTS, See also:FREDERICK See also:SLEIGH ROBERTS, See also:EARL (1832-
), See also:British soldier, second son of See also:General See also:Sir See also:Abraham Roberts, G.C.B., was See also:born at See also:Cawnpore, See also:India, on the 3oth of See also:September 1832. Educated at See also:Eton, See also:Sandhurst and Addiscombe, he obtained a See also:commission in the See also:Bengal See also:Artillery on 12th See also:December 1851. In the following See also:year he was posted to a See also: He was present at the reoccupation of Fatehgarh on the 6th of January, the storm of Mianganj in See also:February, the siege and See also:capture of Lucknow in See also: A road, over too m. See also:long, was cut through dense gloomy forests in stifling See also:heat, and the column was attacked by See also:cholera; but the See also:object of the expedition was successfully accomplished, and Roberts, who was present at the capture of the Kholelvillages and the action in the Northlang range, and commanded the troops at the burning of Taikum, was mentioned in despatches and made a See also:Companion of the See also: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 See also:great camp of exercise at Delhi on the occasion of the visit of the See also:prince of See also:Wales in January 1876, and attended H.R.H. at the See also:man-oeuvres. He also superintended the arrangements for the great See also:durbar at Delhi on the 1st of January 1877, when See also:Queen Victoria was proclaimed empress of India. In 1878 Roberts was appointed to the command of the Frontier Field Force at See also:Abbottabad, in See also:Hazara; but in the autumn, on the repulse of the Chamberlain See also:Mission by the Afghans, and the formation of three columns to advance into See also:Afghanistan by the Khyber, the Bolan and the See also:Kurram passes, he was given the command of the Kurram Field Force, with the See also:rank of major-general. Concentrating his column at Thal, he advanced to Kurram towards the end of November, and having formed an advanced base there, moved on to Habib Kila. Under See also:cover of preparations for a front attack on the Peiwar Kotal, he reconnoitred that formidable position, and on the See also:night of the 1st of December moved part of his force to attack the Spingawi Kotal, in See also:order to turn the Afghan left flank, leaving the See also:remainder of the force to feign 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 See also:rear, abandoned the position. The next See also:morning Roberts occupied the Peiwar, and on the 6th advanced to See also:Ali Khel. He reconnoitred the Shutargardan and the Sapari passes, and made a strong See also:reconnaissance through Khost, in which some fighting took See also:place, and at the end of January returned to. Hagir Pir, in Kurram, where his. force remained in occupation. In July Major See also:Cavagnari, the British See also:envoy to the new See also:amir, Yakub See also:Khan, passed through Kurram on his way to See also:Kabul, and, shortly afterwards, Roberts left his Kurram command and went to See also:Simla to take his seat on the army commission, where he strongly advocated the abolition of . the three See also:Presidency armies, and the substitution for them of four army See also:corps, a measure which was carried out sixteen years later. While he was at Simla, See also:news arrived on the 5th of September of the See also:murder of Cavagnari and his companions at Kabul. The Peshawar Valley Force had been broken up; Sir Donald Stewart was still at See also: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 hehurried back to Kurram to take command, as a lieutenant-general, of the Kabul Field Force (7500 men and 22 guns). By the 19th of September a brigade was entrenched on the Shutargardan, and as 'Roberts advanced, the Amir Yakub Khan came into his camp. An Afghan force of 8000 men blocked the way in a strong position on the heights beyond Charasia, and on the 6th of October Roberts repeated the See also:tactics that had done him such See also:good service at the Peiwar in the previous year, and sending Brigadier-General T. D. See also: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 See also:retreat. Kabul was occupied without further opposition. The city was spared, but See also:punishment was meted out to those convicted of complicity in the murder of the British Mission. Yakub Khan abdicated on the 12th of 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 See also:early in December, in order to prevent a threatening See also:combination of Afghan tribes against him, Roberts moved out two columns to attack them in detail. After considerable fighting around Kabul, the See also: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 of December was attacked by over 1oo,000 Afghans. They were driven off with great loss; and on making a second See also:attempt to storm the place, were met by Roberts, who moved out, attacked them in flank, and defeated them, when they See also:broke and dispersed. Roberts now recommended the See also:political dismemberment of Afghanistan, and negotiations were carried on with the See also:northern tribes for the See also:appointment of an amir for. the Kabul See also:district only. On the 5th of. May Sir Donald Stewart arrived with his column from Kandahar 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. See also:Low, which was soon to be of inestimable value. On the 22nd of 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 See also:Maiwand on the 27th of July, and that Lieutenant-General See also:Primrose was besieged in Kandahar. Roberts was ordered to proceed thither at once with a specially selected column of to,000 troops and his new transport corps. He started on his famous march on the 9th of See also:August and arrived at Kandahar on the morning of the 31st, having covered 313 See also:miles in twenty-two days. On the following See also:day he fought the battle of Kandahar and gained a complete victory. His services in the Afghan See also:campaigns of 1878 to 1880 are recorded in eight Gazettes, and were recognized by the thanks of both Houses of See also:Parliament, of the See also:Government of India, and of the See also:Governor-General in See also:Council. He was created K.C.B., G.C.B. and a See also:baronet, received the medal. with four clasps and the See also:bronze See also:star, and was given the command of the See also:Madras army.
Before proceeding to Madras, Roberts went home on furlough, and when the news of the disaster at See also:Majuba See also: Early in 1842, after a few months' See also:rest, he accepted a curacy in See also:Cheltenham, which he retained for upwards of four years. The questioning spirit was first aroused in him by the disappointing See also:fruit of evangelical doctrine which he found in Cheltenham, as well as by intimacy with men of varied See also:reading. But, if we are to See also:judge from his own statement in a See also:letter from See also:Heidelberg in 1846, the doubts which now actively assailed him had long been latent in his mind. The crisis of his mental conflict had just been passed in See also:Tirol, and he was now beginning to let his creed grow again from the one fixed point which nothing had availed to shift: " The one great certainty to which, in the midst of the darkest doubt, I never ceased to cling—the entire symmetry and See also:case of hostilities. In July he succeeded Sir Donald Stewart as commander-in-chief in India, and during his seven years' See also:tenure of this high position instituted many See also:measures for the benefit of the army, and greatly assisted the development of frontier communications and See also:defence. At the end of 1886, at the, See also:request of the viceroy, he took See also: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 honours of the army to Prince See also:Albert See also:Victor at a See also:standing camp at Muridki, and in 1891 his See also:attention was occupied with the See also:Zhob and See also:Hunza See also:Nagar frontier campaigns. On the 1st of January 1892 he was raised to the See also:peerage as ' See also: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-See also:marshal in 1895, and in the autumn of that year succeeded Lord Wolseley in the Irish command and was sworn a privy councillor. Atgueen Victoria's See also:diamond See also:jubilee in 1899 he was created K.P. After the disastrous actions in the See also:Boer war in South Africa in December 1899 at Magersfontein, Stormberg and See also:Colenso, where his only son was killed, Lord Roberts was sent out as commander-in-chief. He arrived at Cape Town on the loth of January 'goo, and after organizing his force, advanced with See also:sound See also:strategy on See also:Bloemfontein, the See also:capital of the See also:Orange See also:Free See also:State, and soon changed the aspect of affairs. The sieges of See also:Kimberley and See also:Ladysmith were raised, and the Boer general, See also:Cronje, flying towards the capital, was overtaken at Paardeberg and, after a See also:fine defence, compelled to surrender, with 5000 men, on the anniversary of Majuba Day, the 27th of February 19oo. Roberts entered Bloemfontein on the 13th of March, and after six weeks' preparation, advanced on See also:Pretoria, the capital of the See also:Transvaal. See also:Mafeking was relieved on the 19th of May, and Pretoria occupied on the 5th of June. The two Boer states were annexed, and the war gradually assuming a guerilla
See also:character, Roberts handed over the command to Lord See also:Kitchener, loveliness and the unequalled nobleness of the humanity of and returned to See also:England to fill the See also:office of commander-in-chief the Son of Man." After this mental revolution he See also:felt unable of the army in succession to Lord Wolseley.
He arrived in the See also:Solent on the 2nd of January Igo', and the same day, at See also:Osborne, had an See also:audience of Queen Victoria, who handed him the insignia of the Order of the Garter. The next day he was received at See also:Paddington by the prince and princess of Wales, and drove in procession to See also:Buckingham See also:Palace, where he was entertained as the guest of the queen. He again had an audience of' the queen at Osborne on the 14th of January on his See also:elevation to an earldom, the last audience given by her See also:majesty before her See also:death, which took place eight days later. When the. German emperor came to London for the queen's funeral, he decorated Lord Roberts with the Order of the See also:Black See also:Eagle. Earl Roberts received the thanks of both Houses of Parliament and a See also: In 19o5,he resigned his post on the See also:Committee of See also:National Defence, and devoted himself to attempting to rouse his countrymen to the See also:necessity of cultivating See also:rifle-See also:shooting and of adopting systematic general military' training and service. As an author he is known by his Rise of Welling-ton .(1805), and his See also:Forty©ne Years in India (1897), an auto-See also:biography which has passed through numerous See also:editions. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click, and select "copy." Then paste it into your website, email, or other HTML. Site content, images, and layout Copyright © 2006 - Net Industries, worldwide. |
|
|
[back] ROBERTS, DAVID (1796-1864) |
[next] ROBERTSON, FREDERICK WILLIAM (1816-1853) |