Roberts, FM Frederick Sleigh, Ist Earl, of Kandahar, Pretoria, and Waterford (1832-1914). Perhaps the ablest British field commander since Wellington, Roberts was born at Kanpur, the son of an East India Company officer, Abraham Roberts, who rose to be a full general. Frederick Roberts joined the Bengal artillery in 1851. On the outbreak of the Indian Mutiny he was posted as a staff officer to the Punjab Movable Column and took part in the siege and capture of Delhi, subsequently winning the VC. He served in the Indian army's QMG department from 1859 until 1878, seeing service in the Ambeyla expedition (1863), the Abyssinian expedition (1867-8), and the Lushai expedition (1871). On the outbreak of the second Anglo-Afghan war in 1878, he commanded the Kurram Column; when that war reignited in 1879, following the murder of Cavagnari, he was appointed to command the force which occupied Kabul in October 1879, remaining in command there until succeeded by Sir Donald Stewart in May 1880. Roberts then commanded the force which marched from Kabul to Kandahar in August 1880 to relieve the garrison at the latter, where he defeated the Afghan besiegers under Ayub Khan.
He was C-in-C Madras (1881-5) and C-in-C India for the unprecedented period of eight years, from 1885 to 1893. He then became C-in-C Ireland from whence he superseded Buller in command of the Second Boer War in 1899. Before he arrived, his only son Freddie was killed trying to save the guns at Colenso, an action for which he received a posthumous VC. Although Roberts's logistical arrangements have been criticized by some modern historians, he succeeded in a few months in reversing the situation and occupying both Boer capitals. When he returned to England in 1901, the issue of the war was no longer in doubt, even if the guerrilla tactics of the Boers succeeded in prolonging it for another eighteen months. He was C-in-C of the British army from 1900 until 1904, when the post was abolished.
In retirement, Roberts became a leading exponent of National Service and supporter of Ulster rights. He died in France in 1914 from pneumonia contracted when visiting the Indian troops there. He is buried in St Paul's Cathedral near the Duke of Wellington.
— Brian Robson
