Farewell to war hero

The death of Lord Roberts the previous week had plunged the whole Empire into a state of mourning.

The great soldier, who was in his 83rd year, had died as the result of contracting pneumonia at St Omer, in France, while visiting the Indian troops, of which he was Commander-in-Chief, who were fighting at the front.

From King George V and Queen Mary, to Army camps both home and abroad, and among the general public of the nation, the news of his death was received with profound regret, the Daily Echo reported.

Such was the regard for the man, that the Daily Echo even remarked at the time that a telegram had been received from Berlin claiming that the whole German press wished to express their unanimous esteem for the late Earl Roberts.

The Prime Minister, Mr Asquith, echoed these sentiments in the House of Commons by giving notice of his intention to move a resolution in favour of erecting a permanent national monument as a lasting tribute to the memory of Field Marshal Earl Roberts.

Field Marshal Earl Roberts, or ‘Bobs’ as he affectionately came to be known, was born in Cawnpore, India, in September 1832, and went on to establish a reputation as one of the most successful commanders of the 19th century with successes during the Expedition to Abyssinia and the Second Anglo-Afghan War before leading British forces to success in the second Boer War.

He had earlier won a Victoria Cross as Lieutenant Frederick Sleigh Roberts in an engagement at Khudagunj, very close to his Cawnpore birthplace, during the Indian Mutiny of 1857.

The painful sensation created by Lord Roberts’ death was particularly sharp in Southampton, where many of the townsfolk remembered a wonderful occasion when the great man returned home from the Cape to a rapturous welcome onboard the troopship Canada in January 1901.

That day saw Lord Roberts greeted by thousands of admirers as the liner came into dock to the strains of the band of the 1st Hants Volunteer Artillery, who appropriately struck up See The Conquering Hero Comes.

Upon landing, Lord Roberts proceeded to Hartley College in a carriage drawn by four horses and escorted by two detachments of Yeomanry. The company inside the Hartley was representative of all branches of life, and the mayor, Sir George Hussey, congratulated Lord Roberts on his safe return and his splendid achievements in South Africa. He was invited to sign the roll of freemen of the borough.

It was an occasion that was not just remembered by the people of the town, but it was also an endearing memory that was treasured by the man himself, with Lord Roberts subsequently recalling the event and the effect the citizens of Southampton had on him.

As his funeral cortege left for St Paul’s, the Hampshire Battery Royal Horse Artillery fired a 19-gun salute in St James’s Park.