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.

[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.

[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.

[6] Roberts fought in the Indian Rebellion of 1857, seeing action during the siege and capture of Delhi where he was slightly wounded, and found a dying John Nicholson amidst the chaos of the battle.

[7] He was then present at the relief of Lucknow where, as Deputy Assistant Quartermaster-General, he was attached to the staff of Sir Colin Campbell, Commander-in-Chief, India.

They immediately turned round, and presented their muskets at him, and one of the men pulled the trigger, but fortunately the caps snapped, and the standard-bearer was cut down by this gallant young officer, and the standard taken possession of by him.

Lieutenant Roberts rode to the assistance of the horseman, and, rushing at the Sepoy, with one blow of his sword cut him across the face, killing him on the spot.

[3] Having been promoted to brevet lieutenant colonel on 15 August 1868[12] and to the substantive rank of captain on 18 November 1868,[13] Roberts also fought in the Lushai campaign of 1871–1872 which was directed at the chiefs Vonolel, Lalbura and Bengkhaia to recover the captive Mary Winchester.

However, after the murder of Sir Louis Cavagnari, the British envoy in Kabul, in September 1879, the second phase of the war began.

[43] Having raised the Siege of Kimberley, at the Battle of Paardeberg on 27 February 1900 Roberts forced the Boer General Piet Cronjé to surrender with some 4,000 men.

The resulting chaos and shortage of supplies contributed to a severe typhoid epidemic that inflicted far heavier losses on the British forces than they suffered in combat.

[46] Strategies devised by Roberts, to force the Boer commandos to submit, included concentration camps and the burning of farms.

Conditions in the concentration camps, which had been conceived by Roberts as a form of control of the families whose farms he had destroyed, began to degenerate rapidly as the large influx of Boers outstripped the ability of the small British force to cope.

The camps lacked space, food, sanitation, medicine, and medical care, leading to rampant disease and a very high death rate for those Boers who entered.

[48] With the Boer republics' main towns occupied, and the war apparently effectively over, on 12 December 1900 Roberts handed over command to Lord Kitchener.

[59] During his time in office he introduced the Short Magazine Lee Enfield Rifle and the 18-pounder gun and provided improved education and training for his soldiers.

[60] In September 1902, Lord Roberts and St John Brodrick, Secretary of State for War, visited Germany to attend the German army manoeuvres as guest of the Emperor Wilhelm.

[63] In retirement he was a keen advocate of introducing compulsory military training in Britain to prepare for a great European war.

He further warned of the threat posed by Germany: In the year 1912, just as in 1866 and just as in 1870, war will take place the instant the German forces by land and sea are, by their superiority at every point, as certain of victory as anything in human calculation can be made certain...We may stand still.

[69]The Nation claimed Roberts had an "unimaginative soldier's brain" and that Germany was "a friendly Power" who since 1870 "has remained the most peaceful and the most self-contained, though doubtless not the most sympathetic, member of the European family".

[70] The historian John Terraine, writing in 1993, said: "At this distance of time the verdict upon Lord Robert's Manchester speech must be that, in speaking out clearly on the probability of war, he was doing a patriotic service comparable to Churchill's during the Thirties".

[77] Roberts was approached for advice about the Ulster Volunteer Force, formed in January 1913 by Ulstermen who had no wish to be part of a Home Rule Ireland.

Soon after, Roberts received a telegram from Hubert Gough, purporting to ask for advice, although possibly designed to goad him into further action.

Roberts requested an audience with King George V, who told him that theSecretary of State for War, Jack Seely, with whom the King had recently spoken, had complained that Roberts was "at the bottom" of the matter, had incited Gough, and had called the politicians "swine and robbers" in his telephone conversation with French.

[81] Roberts also had an interview with Seely (he was unable to locate French, who was in fact himself having an audience with the King at the time) but came away thinking him "drunk with power", although he learned that Paget had been acting without authority (in talking of "commencing active operations" against Ulster and in offering officers a chance to discuss hypothetical orders and to threaten to resign) and left a note for Hubert Gough to this effect.

[83] Roberts died of pneumonia at St Omer, France, on 14 November 1914 while visiting Indian troops fighting in the First World War.

[104] 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).

His barony and baronetcy became extinct, but, by the special remainder granted with them, he was succeeded in the earldom and viscountcy by his elder surviving daughter, Aileen.

[122] After Roberts' death in 1914, money was raised to place a copy of the Calcutta statue as a memorial in Kelvingrove Park, Glasgow.

[134] 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.