Frederick Sleigh Roberts 1st Earl Roberts of Kandahar

Roberts, Frederick Sleigh (1832–1914). Field marshal. Roberts first demonstrated his talents as an army officer during the Indian mutiny (1857–8). During the second Afghan war (1878–80) he defeated Ayub Khan's army at the battle of Kandahar and was created baron of Kandahar in 1892. From 1885 to 1893 he was commander-in-chief in India and came to prominence once again during the second Anglo-Boer War (1899–1902). The British forces had suffered several humiliating defeats before Roberts arrived in South Africa to take command, when his strategy led to the capture of the two Boer (Afrikaner) republican capitals, Bloemfontein and Pretoria. Wrongly assuming that all that remained was a straightforward tidying-up operation, Roberts handed over command to his deputy, who was left to conduct a prolonged guerrilla war. Created viscount and then earl in 1901, Roberts served as C.-in-C. of the British army from 1901 to 1904.

Kenneth Ingham

Frederick Sleigh Roberts, 1st Earl Roberts of Kandahar , 1832-1914, British field marshal. He joined the Bengal artillery in 1851 and fought with distinction in the Indian Mutiny (1857-58), earning the Victoria Cross. By 1875 he was quartermaster general of the Indian army and a strong advocate of the "forward" policy of controlling the Himalayan passes to forestall Russian encroachments; this became the general defensive policy of the British in India. He became a popular British hero for the relief of Kandahar in the second Afghan War (1878-80). Roberts was made commander in chief of the Madras army in 1880 and of the entire Indian forces in 1885. In 1893 he returned to England and wrote his reminiscences, Forty-one Years in India (1897). He became field marshal in 1895. In 1899, when the English were meeting reverses at the hands of the Boers in the South African War , Roberts was appointed commander in chief. Aided by his chief of staff, Horatio Kitchener, Roberts reorganized the transport system, achieving a mobility that had been lacking. By late 1900 the war seemed near a successful conclusion, and Roberts was brought home, awarded an earldom, and appointed commander in chief of the British army. His office was abolished in 1904, and thereafter he devoted himself to the advocacy of compulsory military service for home defense.

Bibliography: See biography by D. James (1954).