The Lord Napier of Magdala | |
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| Birth name | Robert Cornelis Napier |
| Born | (1810-12-06)6 December 1810 Colombo,British Ceylon |
| Died | 14 January 1890(1890-01-14) (aged 79) London, England, UK |
| Allegiance |  United Kingdom |
| Branch |  British Indian Army |
| Service years | 1828–1890 |
| Rank | Field marshal |
| Commands | Bombay Army |
| Wars | |
| Alma mater | Addiscombe Military Seminary |
Field MarshalRobert Cornelis Napier, 1st Baron Napier of Magdala,GCB,GCSI,FRS (6 December 1810 – 14 January 1890) was aBritish Indian Army officer. He fought in theFirst Anglo-Sikh War and theSecond Anglo-Sikh War before seeing action as chief engineer during thesecond relief of Lucknow in March 1858 during theIndian Rebellion of 1857. He also served in theSecond Opium War as commander of the 2nd division of the expeditionary force which took part in theBattle of Taku Forts, the surrender of Peking's Anting Gate and the entry toPeking in 1860. He subsequently led thepunitive expedition to Abyssinia in July 1867, defeating the EmperorTewodros II ofEthiopia with minimal loss of life among his own forces and rescuing the hostages of Tewodros.
Born the son of Major Charles Frederick Napier, who was wounded at the storming of Meester Cornelis (nowJatinegara) inJava on (26 August 1810) and died some months later, and Catherine Napier (née Carrington), Napier was educated atAddiscombe Military Seminary before being commissioned into theBengal Engineers on 15 December 1826.[1] He attended theRoyal Engineer Establishment atChatham with the rank ofensign from 7 June 1827[2] before being promoted to lieutenant on 28 September 1827 and being sent to India in November 1828.[3] After commanding a company at Delhi, he was employed in theirrigation works of the Public Works Department until 1836 when he returned to England for leave on account of his poor health.[3] Promoted tocaptain on 25 January 1841, he was appointed garrison engineer atSirhind in 1842.[3]
Napier served underSir Hugh Gough during theFirst Anglo-Sikh War and commanded the Bengal Engineers at theBattle of Mudki in December 1845.[3] He was severely wounded at theBattle of Ferozeshah in December 1845 while storming the Sikh camp and was also present at theBattle of Sobraon in February 1846.[3] Promoted tobrevet major on 3 April 1846,[4] he was chief engineer at thesiege of the fortress of Kote Kangra in thePunjab byBrigadier-General Wheeler in May 1846.[3]
Having been appointed as consulting engineer to the Punjab resident and to the Council of Regency of the Punjab, Napier was called to direct the siege ofMultan in September 1848 at the outset of theSecond Anglo-Sikh War.[3] He was wounded during the siege but managed to recover sufficiently to be present at the successful storming of Multan in January 1849 and at the surrender of the fortress ofChiniot shortly thereafter.[1] He took part in theBattle of Gujrat in February 1849 and accompaniedSir Walter Gilbert as he pursued the Sikhs all the way toRawalpindi and was present at the surrender ceremony of theSikh Army.[1] He was promoted to brevetlieutenant-colonel on 7 June 1849[5] and became chief engineer to the Board of Administration of Punjab Province at the end of the War.[3]
In December 1852 Napier took command of a column in the firstHazara expedition,[a] and in November 1853 against theAfridis on theNorth-West frontier.[1] He crushed the Afridi Pashtun rebellion in theNorth-West Frontier Province and was promoted to the brevet rank ofcolonel on 28 November 1854 and the substantive rank of lieutenant colonel on 15 April 1856.[3]
Napier was appointed military secretary andadjutant general toSir James Outram, whose forces took part in the actions leading to thefirst relief of Lucknow in September 1857.[6] He remained as chief engineer until thesecond relief in November 1857, when he was badly wounded while crossing an exposed space with Outram andSir Henry Havelock to meet withSir Colin Campbell.[1] He recovered sufficiently to be present at thecapture of Lucknow in March 1858.[6]
Napier then joinedSir Hugh Rose as second-in-command for the march onGwalior and commanded the 2nd Brigade at the Battle of Morar in June 1858.[1] AfterGwalior was captured by the British, Napier and his 700 men pursued, caught and defeatedTatya Tope's force of 12,000 men on the plains of Jaora Alipur.[1] After Sir Hugh Rose's departure, Napier assumed command of the Gwalior division and helped capture Paori in August 1858, routed Prince Ferozepore at Ranode in December 1858 and secured the surrender of Man Singh and Tatya Tope, ending the war, in January 1859.[1]
In January 1860, during theSecond Opium War, Napier assumed command of the2nd Division of the expeditionary force underSir James Hope Grant. In theBattle of Taku Forts he led the assault on the main northern fort on 21 August 1860[1] where he counted six bullet holes in his clothing and equipment.[6] The Anting Gate inPeking was surrendered to Napier on 13 October 1860[7] and he was responsible for protectingLord Elgin's line of march into Peking on 24 October 1860.[8] He was promoted to brevetmajor-general on 15 February 1861[9] and to the substantive rank of colonel on 18 February 1861.[10]
Napier became the military member of the Council of theGovernor-General of India in 1861, acting for a short while as Governor-General after the sudden death ofLord Elgin.[1] He assumed command of theBombay Army with the local rank oflieutenant general on 7 February 1865[11] and received promotion to the substantive rank of lieutenant-general on 1 March 1867[12] before taking command of thepunitive expedition to Abyssinia July 1867.[6]
Napier achieved his greatest fame as an army officer when he led the expedition of 1868 against EmperorTewodros II ofEthiopia.[13] The Ethiopian ruler was holding a number of Protestant missionaries hostage, in his mountain capital ofMagdala, as well as two British diplomats who had attempted to negotiate their freedom (Tewodros had unwisely taken them hostage as well). After months of planning and other preparations, the advance guard of engineers landed atZula on theRed Sea to construct a port on 30 October 1867; Napier himself arrived in Zula on 2 January 1868, and on 25 January 1868 led his troops south into theEthiopian Highlands.[1]
The expedition involved crossing 400 miles (644 km)[14] of mountainous terrain lacking roads or bridges occupied by local people with a known history of hostility towards outsiders. The expedition overcame the first obstacle, the terrain, by thorough logistical planning and engineering ability. Shrewd diplomacy dealt with the second obstacle, local opposition.[15] On the one hand, Napier made it clear to the Ethiopians that the sole intent of the British force was to rescue the imprisoned Europeans—not conquest; on the other, Napier met with local potentates such as Ras Kassa (the future EmperorYohannes IV) and arranged to purchase needed supplies with the 4.35 millionMaria Theresa thalers (the preferred currency of the area) the British had purchased from the mint inVienna. What helped Napier was the general disaffection with, if not hostility to, Tewodros, and a desire to replace him, held by several native leaders, as well as a general sense that his hostage-taking was bound to lead to trouble.[16][17]
Napier's troops reached the foot of Magdala on 9 April 1868.[18] The next day,Good Friday, he defeated the 9,000 troops still loyal to Tewodros at theBattle of Magdala for the loss of only 2 British lives. Although Emperor Tewodros surrendered his hostages and made repeated efforts for a negotiated surrender, the distrustful Napier pressed on and ordered an assault on the mountain redoubt on 13 April 1868. The British captured Magdala, and Emperor Tewodros killed himself, leaving a grandiose statement that he preferred to "fall into the hands of God, rather than man."[19] Napier then ordered the destruction of Tewodros' artillery and the burning of Magdala as revenge for Tewodros's hostage taking; his palace was sacked by members of the expedition.[20][21]
After the Ethiopian campaign, Napier was made a Fellow of theRoyal Society[22] and aFreeman of theCity of London.[1] He was also elevated to the peerage asBaron Napier of Magdala on 11 July 1868[23] and granted anannuity for life.[24]
Napier becameCommander-in-Chief, India, with the local rank of full general in April 1870,[25] and having been promoted to the substantive rank of full general on 1 April 1874,[26] he becameGovernor of Gibraltar in June 1876.[27] In February 1878, however, he was recalled to London and appointed to command an expeditionary force which was being prepared in anticipation of a war with Russia.[1] When war did not break out he returned to his duties in Gibraltar. In November 1879 he representedQueen Victoria atMadrid asambassador extraordinary upon the occasion ofAlfonso XII of Spain's second marriage and in December 1879 he became a member of theRoyal Commission on the organisation of the army.[1] Standing down as Governor of Gibraltar,[28] he was promoted tofield marshal on 1 January 1883.[29]
Napier was also honorary colonel of the 3rd London Rifle Volunteer Corps[30] and colonel-commandant of the Royal Engineers.[31] In January 1887 he was appointedConstable of the Tower of London.[32]
Napier died ofinfluenza at his residence in London on 14 January 1890. He was given astate funeral and buried inSt Paul's Cathedral on 21 January 1890.[1][33]
In 1883 the British government installed oneArmstrong100 ton gun in a battery in Gibraltar that they named theNapier of Magdala Battery[34] and in 1891 a statue of Napier on horseback bySir Joseph Boehm was unveiled in front of Carlton House Gardens in London: it was moved to Queen's Gate, Kensington in 1920.[35]
The descendants of the Third City of London Rifle Volunteer Corps are located within Napier House Army Reserve Centre, Grove Park, London; the building is named in his honour.[36]
Napier's honours included:
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In June 1840 Napier married Anne Pearse; they had three sons and three daughters before his wife died in childbirth in 1849.[3] In April 1861 he married Maria Cecilia Smythe Scott: they had six sons and three daughters.[6]
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| Government offices | ||
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| Preceded by | Viceroy of India 1863 | Succeeded by SirWilliam Denison,acting |
| Military offices | ||
| Preceded by | C-in-C, Bombay Army 1865–1869 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Commander-in-Chief, India 1870–1876 | Succeeded by |
| Government offices | ||
| Preceded by | Governor of Gibraltar 1876–1883 | Succeeded by |
| Honorary titles | ||
| Preceded by | Constable of the Tower 1887–1890 | Succeeded by |
| Lord Lieutenant of the Tower Hamlets 1887–1889 | Office abolished | |
| Peerage of the United Kingdom | ||
| New creation | Baron Napier of Magdala 1868–1890 | Succeeded by |
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