Lord Roberts with family and officers, 1893 (c)

Photograph by John Burke, 1893 (c).

Roberts, seated in uniform, is flanked by a young boy in Indian dress, and his son, Frederick Hugh, who would later be awarded a posthumous Victoria Cross in the Boer War (1899-1902). Roberts' daughter, Aileen, sits next to his son. Standing at the right shoulder of Lord Roberts is his orderly, Jemadar Jangia Thapa of the 5th Gurkha Regiment. Thapa was nicknamed 'Bullets' because regimental tradition had it that he had once been hit on the forehead by a bullet which had been completely flattened without causing him the least discomfort.

Frederick Sleigh Roberts (1832-1914) was commissioned into the Bengal Artillery in 1851. His subsequent career was spent almost entirely as a Staff officer but he still saw a good deal of active service. Roberts won the Victoria Cross in the Indian Mutiny (1857-1859), but first came to public notice when he led his troops on the legendary 480 km march from Kabul to Kandahar, during the 2nd Afghan War (1878-1880).

From an album, entitled, 'Farewell Entertainment to Lord Roberts from the Punjab and Kashmir Jan: 8 & 9 1893'.