Abraham Roberts
Encyclopedia
General
General (United Kingdom)
General is currently the highest peace-time rank in the British Army and Royal Marines. It is subordinate to the Army rank of Field Marshal, has a NATO-code of OF-9, and is a four-star rank....

 Sir Abraham Roberts GCB
Order of the Bath
The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate mediæval ceremony for creating a knight, which involved bathing as one of its elements. The knights so created were known as Knights of the Bath...

 (11 April 1784 – 28 December 1873) was a British Army
British Army
The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...

 General
General (United Kingdom)
General is currently the highest peace-time rank in the British Army and Royal Marines. It is subordinate to the Army rank of Field Marshal, has a NATO-code of OF-9, and is a four-star rank....

 who served nearly 50 years in India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

.

Roberts had two sons, both who obtained the highest ranks in the British Army
British Army
The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...

. One son and a grandson would win the Victoria Cross
Victoria Cross
The Victoria Cross is the highest military decoration awarded for valour "in the face of the enemy" to members of the armed forces of various Commonwealth countries, and previous British Empire territories....

, the highest decoration for bravery in the face of the enemy in the British Army.

Early life

Abraham Roberts was a member of a famous Waterford
Waterford
Waterford is a city in the South-East Region of Ireland. It is the oldest city in the country and fifth largest by population. Waterford City Council is the local government authority for the city and its immediate hinterland...

 city family that contributed greatly to the city. He was the son of Anne Sandys and The Reverend
The Reverend
The Reverend is a style most often used as a prefix to the names of Christian clergy and ministers. There are sometimes differences in the way the style is used in different countries and church traditions. The Reverend is correctly called a style but is often and in some dictionaries called a...

 John Roberts, a magistrate
Magistrate
A magistrate is an officer of the state; in modern usage the term usually refers to a judge or prosecutor. This was not always the case; in ancient Rome, a magistratus was one of the highest government officers and possessed both judicial and executive powers. Today, in common law systems, a...

 in County Waterford
County Waterford
*Abbeyside, Affane, Aglish, Annestown, An Rinn, Ardmore*Ballinacourty, Ballinameela, Ballinamult, Ballinroad, Ballybeg, Ballybricken, Ballyduff Lower, Ballyduff Upper, Ballydurn, Ballygunner, Ballylaneen, Ballymacarbry, Ballymacart, Ballynaneashagh, Ballysaggart, Ballytruckle, Bilberry, Bunmahon,...

 and a rector of Passage East
Passage East
Passage East is a fishing village in County Waterford, Ireland, situated on the west bank of Waterford Harbour. It is 12 km from Waterford 10 km from Dunmore East and 21 km from Tramore.-History:...

.

Career

General Sir Abraham Roberts gained the rank of Colonel in the service of the Honourable East India Company and was the commander of the 1st Bengal European Regiment
101st Regiment of Foot (Royal Bengal Fusiliers)
The 101st Regiment of Foot was a regiment of the British Army from 1862 to 1881 but with a previous history in the Bengal Army going back to 1652.-History:...

 and the Lahore Division
Lahore Division
Lahore Division was an administrative division of the Punjab Province of Pakistan, until the reforms of 2000 abolished the third tier of government.-History:Lahore Division was originally an administrative division of the Punjab Province of British India...

. He fought in the First Afghan War.

He was invested as a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath (GCB). He left India in 1853 to live in Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...

 with his 2nd wife, who outlived him. He also had a house in Bristol
Bristol
Bristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, with an estimated population of 433,100 for the unitary authority in 2009, and a surrounding Larger Urban Zone with an estimated 1,070,000 residents in 2007...

 , which is now open to the public, 23 Royal York Crescent, Bristol, Somerset BS8 - England.

Family

He married Frances Isabella Ricketts, daughter of George Poyntz Ricketts, on 20 July 1820.

On the death of his first wife he married, Isabella Bunbury, daughter of Abraham Bunbury, on 2 August 1830.

Children with Frances Isabella Ricketts

  • Frances Eliza Roberts
  • Maria Isabella Roberts
  • Major General George Ricketts Roberts.

Children with Isabella Bunbury

  • Harriet Mercer Roberts
  • Field Marshal Sir Frederick Sleigh Roberts
    Frederick Roberts, 1st Earl Roberts
    Field Marshal Frederick Sleigh Roberts, 1st Earl Roberts, Bt, VC, KG, KP, GCB, OM, GCSI, GCIE, KStJ, PC was a distinguished Indian born British soldier who regarded himself as Anglo-Irish and one of the most successful British commanders of the 19th century.-Early life:Born at Cawnpore, India, on...

    , 1st Earl Roberts VC

External links

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