Key Information
Type of entity
Person
Authorized form of name
Robertson, Sir William Robert, 1860-1933, 1st Baronet, Field Marshal
Parallel form(s) of name
Standardized form(s) of name according to other rules
Other form(s) of name
Description area
Dates of existence
1860-1933
History
Born in 1860; pupil-teacher at Welbourne School, Lincolnshire; entered the army 1877; served in the ranks with 16 (The Queen's) Lancers, 1877-1888, qualifying as a regimental instructor in musketry, signalling and elementary intelligence duties; 2nd Lt, 3 (Prince of Wales's) Dragoon Guards, Muttra, India, 1888; Lt, 1891; Railway Transport Officer, Miranzai and Black Mountain Expeditions, India, 1891; Staff Lt, 1892-1895 and Staff Capt, 1895- 1896, Intelligence Department, Simla, India, 1892-1896; Intelligence Officer, Headquarters, Chitral Relief Force, India, 1895; became the first ranker officer ever to attend the Staff College, Camberley, Surrey, 1897-1898; Staff Capt, Colonial Intelligence Section, War Office, 1899; Deputy Assistant Adjutant General, Assistant Head of Colonial Intelligence Section, War Office, 1899-1900; Maj, 1900; Deputy Assistant Adjutant General, Intelligence Section, General Headquarters, South Africa, 1900; Deputy Assistant Adjutant General, Assistant Head of Colonial Intelligence Section, War Office, 1900- 1901; Brevet Lt Col, 1900; Assistant Quartermaster General, Head of Foreign Intelligence Section, War Office, and General Staff Officer, Grade 1, 1901-1907; Col, 1903; Assistant Quartermaster General, Aldershot Command, 1907; Brig Gen and Chief of General Staff, Aldershot Command, 1907- 1910; Maj Gen, 1910; Commandant, Staff College, Camberley, Surrey, 1910-1913; Director of Military Training, War Office, 1913-1914; Quartermaster General, BEF (British Expeditionary Force), 1914-1915; Chief of General Staff, BEF (British Expeditionary Force), 1915; Lt Gen, 1915; Chief of the Imperial General Staff, 1915-1918; Gen, 1916; Aide de Camp General to HM King George V, 1917; General Officer Commanding, Eastern Command, 1918, and Home Forces, 1918-1919; Commander in Chief, BAOR (British Army of the Rhine), 1919-1920; FM, 1920, making him the only man ever to have risen from the ranks to that position; retired 1921; Col, 2 Dragoons (Royal Scots Greys), 1916-1925, 3 (Prince of Wales's) Dragoon Guards, 1925, and Royal Horse Guards, 1928; entered upon a remarkably successful business career, being appointed Director of British Dyestuffs, the Palestine Corporation, the London General Omnibus Company, and Chairman of the Brewers' Trustees; awarded honorary degrees from Oxford and Cambridge; died 1933.
Publications:
From Private to Field Marshal (Constable and Co, London, 1921); Soldiers and Statesmen 1914-1918 (Cassell and Co, London, 1926).
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Authority record identifier
Institution identifier
0099 KCLMA
Status
Final
Level of detail
Partial
Language(s)
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Sources
Further information is available at the National Archives (F282919)