Robert Napier, 1st Baron Napier of Magdala

Robert Cornelis Napier
1810 – 14 January 1890
Robert Cornelis Napier, 1st Baron Napier of Magdala
Place of birth	Ceylon
Place of death	London
Allegiance	United Kingdom
Service/branch	British Indian Army
Years of service	1828 - 1890
Rank	Field Marshal
Commands	Commander-in-Chief in India
Battles/wars	First Anglo-Sikh War Second Anglo-Sikh War Indian Mutiny Second Anglo-Chinese War 1868 Expedition to Abyssinia
Awards	GCB, GCSI, CIE, FRS
Other work	Governor of Gibraltar Constable of the Tower

Field Marshal Robert Cornelis Napier, 1st Baron Napier of Magdala, GCB, GCSI, CIE, FRS (6 December 1810 – 14 January 1890), was a British soldier. Napier was the son of Major Charles Frederick Napier, who was wounded at the storming of Meester Corneis (August 26 1810) in Java and died some months later. Robert was born in Ceylon on December 6 1810. He joined the Bengal Engineers at the age of 18 and served with distinction throughout the Sikh Wars. He later served in the North West Frontier District and saw action in Peshawar and Afghanistan. Napier served during the Indian Mutiny, helping to mop up the final resistance before commanding a division during the Second Anglo-Chinese War. He achieved his greatest fame as an army officer leading a punitive expedition in 1868 to Magdala, the capital of Emperor Tewodros II of Ethiopia. The expedition involved crossing 400 miles of mountainous terrain lacking roads or bridges to rescue several captured British diplomats and missionaries. The expedition took Maria Theresa thalers with them to pay local expenses. The British won the battle of Magdala, which led Emperor Tewodros to commit suicide at the news. The expedition and its troops looted many historical and religious artifacts, which they took back to Britain, where they still reside in collections, despite representations by various parties for their return. ^{[1] [2]} Napier then ordered the burning of Magdala as a punitive measure. After the Ethiopian campaign, Napier received many honors. The Royal Society of London for the Improvement of Natural Knowledge inducted him as a member in 1869.^[3] He received a parliamentary pension, was made Grand Commander of the Order of the Bath and a Freeman of the City of London and by way of victory title was given a hereditary peerage, Baron Napier of Magdala. He later became Commander-in-Chief in India and also served as Governor of Gibraltar from 1876 to 1883. In 1893, the British government installed one Armstrong 100 ton gun in a battery in Gibraltar that they named the Napier of Magdala Battery. Earlier, in 1879, they had mounted another such gun in Gibraltar in Victoria Battery. These two batteries, together with two similar ones in Malta, were a response to the Italians having, in 1873, built the battleships Duilio and Dandalo. Lord Napier of Magdala died on January 14 1890 and was interred in St Pauls Cathedral.

References

• This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.[1]

External links

• Royal Engineers Museum - Sapper Biographies
• Royal Engineers Museum - Corps History - campaigns
• Almanach de Bruxelles (now a paying site)