Who's Who - Sir William Robertson
Sir William Robertson (1860-1933) holds
the unusual distinction of being the only man to rise from Private to Field
Marshal rank in the British army.
Having enlisted at the age of 17 as a Private, Robertson joined the 16th
Lancers in November 1877, starting his remarkable ascent ten years later
when he was made an NCO. In June 1888 he was made Second Lieutenant in 3rd
Dragoon Guards, thereafter spending four years in India as a subaltern;
following this stint he was enrolled into the Intelligence Branch at Simla, British HQ in India.
Having been appointed to the headquarters staff of the Chitral Relief Force
in 1894, Robertson returned to England and entered Staff College in January
1895. Leaving Staff College he was attached to the Intelligence Staff at the
London War Office, working within the Russian and Colonial departments. The
same year Robertson was promoted to Captain. After a brief spell in the
intelligence department at the start of the Second Boer War (1899-1902)
Robertson was dispatched to South Africa to join Lord Roberts HQ staff (then
Commander-in-Chief of the British effort).
Towards the close of 1900, in November, Robertson was promoted to Brevet
Lieutenant-Colonel. After the conclusion of the South African war he
returned to London where he rejoined the Intelligent Staff at the War
Office, receiving an appointment as Head of the Foreign Section.
Having been made a full Colonel in 1904, Robertson's career received a
further major boost in December 1907 when he was appointed Chief of the
General Staff to Sir Horace Smith-Dorrien (who had himself succeeded
Sir
John French as command of the Aldershot garrison).
From June 1910 until October 1913 Robertson served as Commandant of the
Staff College, during which time he was promoted to Major-General. Back
again at the War Office he was appointed Director of Military Training. It
was in this role that Robertson served when war broke out in August 1914.
Robertson was appointed Quartermaster-General of Sir John French's British
Expeditionary Force (BEF), a post he took up with his sailing to Boulogne on
14 August. The following January Robertson switched posts, receiving an
appointment as Chief of the General Staff, a position he retained until 1918
(renamed in December 1915 as Chief of the Imperial General Staff, receiving
a promotion to Lieutenant-General in October 1915).
In this role Robertson
served as liaison between the army and the government (in which role he
conspired against then Prime Minister
Herbert Asquith, helping to install
David Lloyd George as
the new Prime Minister late in 1916).
A staunch supporter of Sir Douglas Haig, Robertson acted to stymie Lloyd
George's attempts to divert effort from the Western to the Eastern Front;
unlike Lloyd George, Robertson was a keen 'Westerner', believing that the
war could only be won on the Western Front. Robertson's name had
earlier been
mooted as a possible contender for French's position as British
Commander-in-Chief; in the event Haig received the appointment. It has been speculated that Robertson's humble beginnings as a Private
worked against him.
Having thus antagonised the Prime Minister, Robertson was forced to resign
on 11 February 1918, taking instead the lesser role of Commander-in-Chief of
the British Home Forces (replacing Sir John French).
Sir Henry Wilson
replaced Robertson as Chief of the Imperial General Staff. Wilson had
connived with Lloyd George in the creation of the
Supreme War Council, a
body which Robertson had vociferously opposed, not least because it served
partly to circumvent Robertson and Haig.
Commanding the British forces on the Rhine from 1919-20, Robertson was first
made a baronet in 1919 and then appointed Field Marshal on 29 March 1920,
completing his impressive career ascent.
He published his autobiography,
From Private to Field Marshal, the following year. He also published
Soldiers and Statesmen, 1914-1918 in 1926.
Sir William Robertson died in 1933.
'Whippet' was a term used to describe any light tank.
- Did you know?
