Telegram informing Field Marshal Lord Roberts that his son Lieutenant The Hon Frederick Hugh Sherston Roberts has died of his wounds, 17 December 1899

Fred Roberts died of his wounds at Chieveley in Natal having been posthumously recommended for the Victoria Cross (VC) for his gallantry at Colenso on 15 December 1899.

The day this telegram arrived, Lord Landsdowne, the Secretary for War, visited Lord Roberts at his London hotel to offer him the post of Commander-in-Chief in South Africa following the recent British reverses there. He later wrote of this encounter to Robert's daughter Lady Aileen:

'By that time it was known that your brother had been wounded. I asked your father, who was much distressed, whether he still felt sure that he was physically fit for such a tremendous enterprise. He made no secret of his feelings as to Freddy, but he was hopeful, and ready to go on.

Later in the same day I heard of Freddy's death. I had to go and find your father and break the news to him. I saw him, I think, at the same hotel. The blow was almost more than he could bear, and for a moment I thought he would break down, but he pulled himself together. I shall never forget the courage which he showed, or the way in which he refused to allow this disaster to turn him aside from his duty.'

Letter from Lord Lansdowne to Lady Aileen Roberts, 11 May 1921. NAM. 1971-01-23-181