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Robert Napier, 1st Baron Napier of Magdala

2022-10-08T08:40:35Z

2601:601:8680:A0A0:B9C9:FDD2:8BE3:F0D0:

{{Short description|British army officer}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2021}}
{{Infobox officeholder
|honorific-prefix = [[The Right Honourable]]
|name = The Lord Napier of Magdala
|honorific-suffix = {{postnominals|country=GBR|GCB|GCSI|FRS|size=100%}}
|image = Robert Napier.jpg
|office = [[Governor of Gibraltar]]
|term = {{start and end dates|1876|06|23|1883|01|03|df=y}}
|predecessor = [[Sir Fenwick Williams]]
|successor = [[Sir John Adye]]
|office2 = [[Commander-in-Chief, India]]
|term2 = {{start and end dates|1870|04|09|1876|04|10|df=y}}
|predecessor2 = [[Sir William Mansfield]]
|successor2 = [[Sir Frederick Haines]]
|birth_name = Robert Cornelis Napier
|birth_date = {{birth date|1810|12|06|df=y}}
|birth_place = [[Colombo]], [[British Ceylon]]
|death_date = {{death date and age|1890|01|14|1810|12|06|df=y}}
|death_place = [[London]], England, UK
|alma_mater = [[Addiscombe Military Seminary]]
|branch_label = Branch
|branch = {{army|British Raj|size=20px}}
|serviceyears_label = Service years
|serviceyears = 1828–1890
|rank = [[Field marshal (United Kingdom)|Field marshal]]
|commands = [[Bombay Army]]
|battles_label = Wars
|battles = {{ubl|[[First Anglo-Sikh War]]|[[Second Anglo-Sikh War]]|[[Indian Rebellion]]|[[Second Opium War]]|[[Abyssinian Expedition]]}}
}}

[[Field marshal (United Kingdom)|Field Marshal]] '''Robert Cornelis Napier, 1st Baron Napier of Magdala''' {{postnominals|country=GBR|GCB|GCSI|FRS}} (6 December 1810 – 14 January 1890) was a [[British Indian Army]] officer. He fought in the [[First Anglo-Sikh War]] and the [[Second Anglo-Sikh War]] before seeing action as chief engineer during the [[Siege of Lucknow#Second relief|second relief of Lucknow]] in March 1858 during the [[Indian Rebellion of 1857]]. He also served in the [[Second Opium War]] as commander of the 2nd division of the expeditionary force which took part in the [[Battle of Taku Forts (1860)|Battle of Taku Forts]], the surrender of Peking's Anting Gate and the entry to [[Beijing|Peking]] in 1860. He subsequently led the [[British Expedition to Abyssinia|punitive expedition to Abyssinia]] July 1867, defeating the Emperor [[Tewodros II]] of [[Ethiopia]] with minimal loss of life among his own forces and rescuing the hostages of Tewodros.

== Military career ==

=== Early career ===
Born the son of Major Charles Frederick Napier, who was wounded at the storming of Meester Cornelis (now [[Jatinegara]]) in [[Java]] on (26 August 1810) and died some months later, and Catherine Napier (née Carrington), Napier was educated at [[Addiscombe Military Seminary]] before being commissioned into the [[Bengal Engineer Group|Bengal Engineers]] on 15 December 1826.<ref name=odnb>{{cite ODNB|url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/19770?docPos=6 |title=Napier, Robert Cornelis, first Baron Napier of Magdala|year=2004 |doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/19770 |access-date=24 November 2013}}</ref> He attended the [[Royal School of Military Engineering|Royal Engineer Establishment]] at [[Chatham, Kent|Chatham]] with the rank of [[ensign (rank)|ensign]] from 7 June 1827<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=18373|page=1371|date=26 June 1827}}</ref> before being promoted to lieutenant on 28 September 1827 and being sent to [[India]] in November 1828.<ref name=heath223>Heathcote, p. 233</ref> After commanding a company at [[Delhi]], he was employed in the [[irrigation]] works of the Public Works Department until 1836 when he returned to England for leave on account of his poor health.<ref name=heath223/> Promoted to [[Captain (British Army and Royal Marines)|captain]] on 25 January 1841, he was appointed garrison engineer at [[Sirhind-Fategarh|Sirhind]] in 1842.<ref name=heath223/>

=== First Anglo-Sikh War ===
Napier served under [[Hugh Gough, 1st Viscount Gough|Sir Hugh Gough]] during the [[First Anglo-Sikh War]] and commanded the Bengal Engineers at the [[Battle of Mudki]] in December 1845.<ref name=heath223/> He was severely wounded at the [[Battle of Ferozeshah]] in December 1845 while storming the Sikh camp and was also present at the [[Battle of Sobraon]] in February 1846.<ref name=heath223/> Promoted to [[Brevet (military)|brevet]] major on 3 April 1846,<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=20591|page=1236|date=3 April 1846}}</ref> he was chief engineer at the [[siege]] of the fortress of Kote Kangra in the [[Punjab Province (British India)|Punjab]] by [[Hugh Wheeler (East India Company officer)|Brigadier-General Wheeler]] in May 1846.<ref name=heath223/>

=== Second Anglo-Sikh War ===
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 of [[Multan]] in September 1848 at the outset of the [[Second Anglo-Sikh War]].<ref name=heath223/> 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 of [[Chiniot]] shortly thereafter.<ref name=odnb/> He took part in the [[Battle of Gujrat]] in February 1849 and accompanied [[Sir Walter Gilbert, 1st Baronet|Sir Walter Gilbert]] as he pursued the Sikhs all the way to [[Rawalpindi]] and was present at the surrender ceremony of the [[Sikh Army]].<ref name=odnb/> He was promoted to brevet [[lieutenant-colonel]] on 7 June 1849<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=20986|page=1865|date=7 June 1849}}</ref> and became chief engineer to the Board of Administration of Punjab Province at the end of the War.<ref name=heath223/>

=== North-West Frontier ===
In December 1852 Napier took command of a column in the first [[Hazara Division|Hazara]] expedition,{{efn | Also see [[Muhammad Habib Khan Tarin]]}} and in November 1853 against the [[Afridis]] on the [[North-West Frontier (military history)|North-West frontier]].<ref name=odnb/> He crushed the Afridi Pashtun rebellion in the [[North-West Frontier Province]] and was promoted to the brevet rank of [[Colonel (United Kingdom)|colonel]] on 28 November 1854 and the substantive rank of lieutenant colonel on 15 April 1856.<ref name=heath223/>

=== Indian Mutiny ===
[[File:Felice Beato (British, born Italy - (Major-General Sir Robert Napier and Lieutenant-Colonel William Wilberforce Harris Greathed, Bengal ... - Google Art Project.jpg|thumb|upright|Napier (left) in India]]
Napier was appointed military secretary and [[adjutant general]] to [[Sir James Outram, 1st Baronet|Sir James Outram]], whose forces took part in the actions leading to the [[Siege of Lucknow#First relief of Lucknow|first relief of Lucknow]] in September 1857.{{sfn|Heathcote|1999|p=224}} He remained as chief engineer until the [[Siege of Lucknow#Second relief|second relief]] in November 1857, when he was badly wounded while crossing an exposed space with Outram and [[Henry Havelock|Sir Henry Havelock]] to meet with [[Colin Campbell, 1st Baron Clyde|Sir Colin Campbell]].<ref name=odnb/> He recovered sufficiently to be present at the [[capture of Lucknow]] in March 1858.{{sfn|Heathcote|1999|p=224}}

Napier then joined [[Hugh Rose, 1st Baron Strathnairn|Sir Hugh Rose]] as second-in-command for the march on [[Gwalior]] and commanded the 2nd Brigade at the Battle of Morar in June 1858.<ref name=odnb/> After [[Gwalior]] was captured by the British, Napier and his 700 men pursued, caught and defeated [[Tatya Tope]]'s force of 12,000 men on the plains of Jaora Alipur.<ref name=odnb/> 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.<ref name=odnb/>

== China ==
In January 1860, during the [[Second Opium War]], Napier assumed command of the [[2nd Infantry Division (United Kingdom)|2nd Division]] of the expeditionary force under [[James Hope Grant|Sir James Hope Grant]]. In the [[Battle of Taku Forts (1860)|Battle of Taku Forts]] he led the assault on the main northern fort on 21 August 1860<ref name=odnb/> where he counted six bullet holes in his clothing and equipment.{{sfn|Heathcote|1999|p=224}} The Anting Gate in [[Beijing|Peking]] was surrendered to Napier on 13 October 1860{{sfn|Wolseley|1862|p=273}} and he was responsible for protecting [[James Bruce, 8th Earl of Elgin|Lord Elgin]]'s line of march into Peking on 24 October 1860.{{sfn|Wolseley|1862|p=292}} He was promoted to brevet [[major-general]] on 15 February 1861<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=22480|page=655|date=15 February 1861}}</ref> and to the substantive rank of colonel on 18 February 1861.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=22621|page=2238|date=29 April 1862}}</ref>

Napier became the military member of the Council of the [[Governor-General of India]] in 1861, acting for a short while as Governor-General after the sudden death of [[James Bruce, 8th Earl of Elgin|Lord Elgin]].<ref name=odnb/> He assumed command of the [[Bombay Army]] with the local rank of [[lieutenant general]] on 7 February 1865<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=22937|page=591|date=7 February 1865}}</ref> and received promotion to the substantive rank of lieutenant-general on 1 March 1867<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=23250|page=2759|date=14 May 1867}}</ref> before taking command of the [[British Expedition to Abyssinia|punitive expedition to Abyssinia]] July 1867.{{sfn|Heathcote|1999|p=224}}

== Abyssinia ==
{{See also|British Expedition to Abyssinia}}
[[File:Robert Cornelis Napier, Vanity Fair, 1878-04-20.jpg|thumb|upright|"The [[British Expedition to Abyssinia|British Expedition]]". Caricature by [[Leslie Ward|Spy]] published in ''[[Vanity Fair (UK magazine)|Vanity Fair]]'' in 1878.]]
Napier achieved his greatest fame as an army officer when he led the expedition of 1868 against Emperor [[Tewodros II]] of [[Ethiopia]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Robert-Napier-1st-Baron-Napier|title=Robert Napier, 1st Baron Napier|date=25 January 2016|newspaper=Encyclopædia Britannica|access-date=12 January 2017}}</ref> The Ethiopian ruler was holding a number of Protestant missionaries hostage, in his mountain capital of [[Amba Mariam|Magdala]], 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 at [[Zula]] on the [[Red 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 the [[Ethiopian Highlands]].<ref name=odnb/>

The expedition involved crossing {{convert|400|mi|km|0}}{{sfn|Stanley|1874|p=285}} 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.{{sfn|Vibart|1894|p=410}} 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 Emperor [[Yohannes IV]]) and arranged to purchase needed supplies with the 4.35 million [[Maria Theresa thaler]]s (the preferred currency of the area) the British had purchased from the mint in [[Vienna]]. 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.{{sfn|Rubenson|2003|pp=256–263}}{{sfn|Pankhurst|1968|p=469}}

Napier's troops reached the foot of Magdala on 9 April 1868.{{sfn|Stanley|1874|p=402}} The next day, [[Good Friday]], he defeated the 9,000 troops still loyal to Tewodros at the [[Battle 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."{{sfn|Rubenson|2003|p=268}} 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.<ref>{{Cite web | first1=Andreas | last1=Eshete | first2=Richard | last2=Pankhurst | url=http://www.ethioembassy.org.uk/fact%20file/a-z/Looted%20Treasure/Afromet%20Memorandum%20on%20the%20Loot%20from%20Maqdala.htm | title=Memorandum on the Loot from Magdala (Ethiopia) addressed to the Culture, Media and Sport Committee of the United Kingdom Parliament, by the Association for the Return of the Ethiopian Magdala Treasures | access-date=24 November 2013 | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120209085041/http://www.ethioembassy.org.uk/fact%20file/a-z/Looted%20Treasure/Afromet%20Memorandum%20on%20the%20Loot%20from%20Maqdala.htm | archive-date=9 February 2012 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|work=Reuters |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-ethiopia-britain/british-museum-to-return-royal-hair-seized-in-ethiopia-150-years-ago-idUSKCN1QL1N2 |first=Aaron |last=Maasho |date=4 March 2019 |title=British museum to return royal hair seized in Ethiopia 150 years ago}}</ref>

After the Ethiopian campaign, Napier was made a Fellow of the [[Royal Society]]<ref>{{cite web|url=https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AmIblj8F2r_GdG9aaFZRMjNrYUZXVHkzeXRzdmhFTmc&usp=sharing#gid=0|publisher=The Royal Society |title= Fellowship of Royal Society|access-date=24 November 2013}}</ref> and a [[Freedom of the City#Freedom of the City of London|Freeman]] of the [[City of London]].<ref name=odnb/> He was also elevated to the peerage as [[Baron Napier of Magdala]] on 11 July 1868<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=23400|page=3937|date=14 July 1868}}</ref> and granted an [[Life annuity|annuity]] for life.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=23409|page=4325|date=4 August 1868}}</ref>

== Later career ==
Napier became [[Commander-in-Chief, India]], with the local rank of full general in April 1870,<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=23585|page=755|date=8 February 1870}}</ref> and having been promoted to the substantive rank of full general on 1 April 1874,<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=24082|page=1924|date=31 March 1874}}</ref> he became [[Governor of Gibraltar]] in June 1876.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=24342|page=3820|date=4 July 1876}}</ref> 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.<ref name=odnb/> When war did not break out he returned to his duties in Gibraltar. In November 1879 he represented [[Queen Victoria]] at [[Madrid]] as [[ambassador|ambassador extraordinary]] upon the occasion of [[Alfonso XII of Spain]]'s second marriage and in December 1879 he became a member of the [[Royal Commission]] on the organization of the army.<ref name=odnb/> Standing down as Governor of Gibraltar,<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=25175|page=6250|date=8 December 1882}}</ref> he was promoted to [[Field marshal (United Kingdom)|field marshal]] on 1 January 1883.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=25183|page=6650|date=29 December 1882}}</ref>

Napier was also honorary colonel of the 3rd London Rifle Volunteer Corps<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=23403|page=4118|date=24 July 1868}}</ref> and colonel-commandant of the Royal Engineers.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=24082|page=1923|date=31 March 1874}}</ref> In January 1887 he was appointed [[Constable of the Tower|Constable of the Tower of London]].<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=25662|page=100|date=7 January 1887}}</ref>

Napier died of [[influenza]] at his residence in London on 14 January 1890. He was given a [[state funeral]] and buried in [[St Paul's Cathedral]] on 21 January 1890.<ref name=odnb/><ref>"Memorials of St Paul's Cathedral" [[William Sinclair (Archdeacon of London)|Sinclair, W.]] p. 461: London; Chapman & Hall, Ltd; 1909</ref>

== Legacy ==
In 1883 the British government installed one [[Armstrong Gun|Armstrong]] [[RML 17.72-inch gun|100 ton gun]] in a battery in Gibraltar that they named the [[Napier of Magdala Battery]]{{Sfn|Fa|Finlayson|2006|p=64}} and in 1891 a statue of Napier on horseback by [[Joseph Boehm|Sir Joseph Boehm]] was unveiled in front of Carlton House Gardens in London: it was moved to Queen's Gate, Kensington in 1920.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.pastscape.org.uk/hob.aspx?hob_id=1492584&sort=4&search=all&criteria=north%20carlton&rational=q&recordsperpage=60|title=Statue of Robert Cornelis Napier, Baron Napier of Magdala|publisher=Pastscape|access-date=24 November 2013}}</ref>

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.<ref>{{cite book|first=Planck |last= Digby|title= The Shiny Seventh: History of the 7th (City of London) Battalion London Regiment|year=1946|isbn= 1-84342-366-9}}</ref>

== Honours ==
Napier's honours included:
* [[Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath]] (GCB) – 27 April 1868<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=23374|page=2431|date=28 April 1868}}</ref> (KCB – 27 July 1858<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=22166|page=3475|date=27 July 1858}}</ref>)
* [[Knight Grand Commander of the Order of the Star of India]] (GCSI) – 16 September 1867<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=23302|page=5109|date=17 September 1867}}</ref>

{{Infobox COA wide
|image = [[File:Coronet of a British Baron.svg|centre|150px]][[File:Napier of Magdala Escutcheon.png|centre|200px]]
|escutcheon = Gules on a saltire between two mural crowns in pale and as many lions passant in fess Or a rose of the field.
|crest = On a mount Vert a lion passant Or gorged with a collar Gules and a broken chain reflexed over the back Gold supporting with the dexter forepaw a flagstaff in bend sinister Proper therefrom flowing a banner Argent charged with a cross couped Gules.
|supporters = Dexter a soldier of the royal engineers; sinister a Sikh sirdar; both habited and each holding in his exterior hand a musket; all Proper.
|motto = Tu Vincula Frange<ref>{{cite book|title=Debrett's Peerage |date=1891}}</ref>}}

== Family ==
In June 1840 Napier married Anne Pearse; they had three sons and three daughters before his wife died in childbirth in 1849.<ref name=heath223/> In April 1861 he married Maria Cecilia Smythe Scott: they had six sons and three daughters.{{sfn|Heathcote|1999|p=224}}

== Notes ==
{{notelist}}

== References ==
{{reflist}}

== Sources ==
* {{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BC5QBR0oB04C&q=Parson%27s+Lodge+Battery|title=The Fortifications of Gibraltar, 1068–1945|last2=Finlayson|first2=Clive|publisher=Gibraltar Museum|year=2006|isbn=9781846030161|last1=Fa|first1=Darren}}
* {{cite book|last=Heathcote|first=Tony|title=The British Field Marshals, 1736–1997: A Biographical Dictionary |publisher= Leo Cooper|location=Barnsley|year= 1999|isbn= 0-85052-696-5}}
* {{cite book|first=Richard |last=Pankhurst|title=An Introduction to the Economic History of Ethiopia|publisher=Addis Ababa: Haile Selassie I University|year= 1968|isbn=978-0283354687}}
* {{cite book|first=Sven|last= Rubenson|title=The Survival of Ethiopian Independence|publisher=Hollywood: Tsehai|year= 2003|isbn=978-0435942410}}
* {{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/coomassiemagdala00stan|title=Coomassie and Magdala: the story of two British campaigns in Africa|last=Stanley|first=Henry|publisher=Harper & Brothers|year=1874|location=New York|author-link=Henry Morton Stanley}}
* {{cite book |first=Henry |last=Vibart |title=Addiscombe: its heroes and men of note |place=Westminster |publisher=Archibald Constable |year=1894 |pages=405–413 |ol=23336661M }}
* {{cite book|last=Wolseley|first=Garnet|title=Narrative of the War with China in 1860 |url=https://archive.org/details/narrativewarwit00wolsgoog|publisher= Longman Green Longman and Roberts|location=London|year= 1862|isbn= 1357525575}}

== External links ==
{{Commons category|Robert Napier, 1st Baron Napier of Magdala|Robert Napier}}

* [https://www.artuk.org/artdetective/discoveries/discoveries/portrait-confirmed-to-be-by-lowes-cato-dickinson Portrait] by [[Lowes Cato Dickinson]]
* {{Internet Archive author |sname=Robert Napier, 1st Baron Napier of Magdala}}

{{s-start}}
{{s-gov}}
{{succession box | title=[[Governor-General of India|Viceroy of India]] | before=[[James Bruce, 8th Earl of Elgin|The Earl of Elgin]] | after=Sir [[William Denison]], ''acting'' | years=1863}}
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{{s-gov}}
{{succession box | title=[[Governor of Gibraltar]] | before=[[Sir William Williams, 1st Baronet, of Kars|Sir William Williams]] | after= [[John Miller Adye|Sir John Adye]] | years=1876–1883}}
{{s-hon}}
{{s-bef | rows=2 | before=[[Richard Dacres (British Army officer)|Sir Richard James Dacres]]}}
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{{s-reg|uk}}
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{{s-ttl | title=[[Baron Napier of Magdala]] | years=1868–1890}}
{{s-aft | after=[[Robert William Napier, 2nd Baron Napier of Magdala|Robert William Napier]]}}
{{s-end}}

{{Governors of Gibraltar}}
{{Commander-in-Chief, India}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Napier, Robert}}
[[Category:1810 births]]
[[Category:1890 deaths]]
[[Category:Alumni of Addiscombe Military Seminary]]
[[Category:Barons in the Peerage of the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Bengal Engineers officers]]
[[Category:British expatriates in Ethiopia]]
[[Category:British field marshals]]
[[Category:British military personnel of the Abyssinian War]]
[[Category:British military personnel of the First Anglo-Sikh War]]
[[Category:British military personnel of the Indian Rebellion of 1857]]
[[Category:British military personnel of the Second Anglo-Sikh War]]
[[Category:British military personnel of the Second Opium War]]
[[Category:Burials at St Paul's Cathedral]]
[[Category:Clan Napier|Robert]]
[[Category:Constables of the Tower of London]]
[[Category:Fellows of the Royal Society]]
[[Category:Governors of Gibraltar]]
[[Category:Knights Grand Commander of the Order of the Star of India]]
[[Category:Knights Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath]]
[[Category:Lord-Lieutenants of the Tower Hamlets]]
[[Category:Peers of the United Kingdom created by Queen Victoria]]
[[Category:Members of the Council of the Governor General of India]]

Robert Napier, 1st Baron Napier of Magdala

2022-10-08T08:40:35Z

2601:601:8680:A0A0:B9C9:FDD2:8BE3:F0D0:

{{Short description|British army officer}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2021}}
{{Infobox officeholder
|honorific-prefix = [[The Right Honourable]]
|name = The Lord Napier of Magdala
|honorific-suffix = {{postnominals|country=GBR|GCB|GCSI|FRS|size=100%}}
|image = Robert Napier.jpg
|office = [[Governor of Gibraltar]]
|term = {{start and end dates|1876|06|23|1883|01|03|df=y}}
|predecessor = [[Sir Fenwick Williams]]
|successor = [[Sir John Adye]]
|office2 = [[Commander-in-Chief, India]]
|term2 = {{start and end dates|1870|04|09|1876|04|10|df=y}}
|predecessor2 = [[Sir William Mansfield]]
|successor2 = [[Sir Frederick Haines]]
|birth_name = Robert Cornelis Napier
|birth_date = {{birth date|1810|12|06|df=y}}
|birth_place = [[Colombo]], [[British Ceylon]]
|death_date = {{death date and age|1890|01|14|1810|12|06|df=y}}
|death_place = [[London]], England, UK
|alma_mater = [[Addiscombe Military Seminary]]
|branch_label = Branch
|branch = {{army|British Raj|size=20px}}
|serviceyears_label = Service years
|serviceyears = 1828–1890
|rank = [[Field marshal (United Kingdom)|Field marshal]]
|commands = [[Bombay Army]]
|battles_label = Wars
|battles = {{ubl|[[First Anglo-Sikh War]]|[[Second Anglo-Sikh War]]|[[Indian Rebellion]]|[[Second Opium War]]|[[Abyssinian Expedition]]}}
}}

[[Field marshal (United Kingdom)|Field Marshal]] '''Robert Cornelis Napier, 1st Baron Napier of Magdala''' {{postnominals|country=GBR|GCB|GCSI|FRS}} (6 December 1810 – 14 January 1890) was a [[British Indian Army]] officer. He fought in the [[First Anglo-Sikh War]] and the [[Second Anglo-Sikh War]] before seeing action as chief engineer during the [[Siege of Lucknow#Second relief|second relief of Lucknow]] in March 1858 during the [[Indian Rebellion of 1857]]. He also served in the [[Second Opium War]] as commander of the 2nd division of the expeditionary force which took part in the [[Battle of Taku Forts (1860)|Battle of Taku Forts]], the surrender of Peking's Anting Gate and the entry to [[Beijing|Peking]] in 1860. He subsequently led the [[British Expedition to Abyssinia|punitive expedition to Abyssinia]] July 1867, defeating the Emperor [[Tewodros II]] of [[Ethiopia]] with minimal loss of life among his own forces and rescuing the hostages of Tewodros.

== Military career ==

=== Early career ===
Born the son of Major Charles Frederick Napier, who was wounded at the storming of Meester Cornelis (now [[Jatinegara]]) in [[Java]] on (26 August 1810) and died some months later, and Catherine Napier (née Carrington), Napier was educated at [[Addiscombe Military Seminary]] before being commissioned into the [[Bengal Engineer Group|Bengal Engineers]] on 15 December 1826.<ref name=odnb>{{cite ODNB|url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/19770?docPos=6 |title=Napier, Robert Cornelis, first Baron Napier of Magdala|year=2004 |doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/19770 |access-date=24 November 2022}}</ref> He attended the [[Royal School of Military Engineering|Royal Engineer Establishment]] at [[Chatham, Kent|Chatham]] with the rank of [[ensign (rank)|ensign]] from 7 June 1827<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=18373|page=1371|date=26 June 1827}}</ref> before being promoted to lieutenant on 28 September 1827 and being sent to [[India]] in November 1828.<ref name=heath223>Heathcote, p. 233</ref> After commanding a company at [[Delhi]], he was employed in the [[irrigation]] works of the Public Works Department until 1836 when he returned to England for leave on account of his poor health.<ref name=heath223/> Promoted to [[Captain (British Army and Royal Marines)|captain]] on 25 January 1841, he was appointed garrison engineer at [[Sirhind-Fategarh|Sirhind]] in 1842.<ref name=heath223/>

=== First Anglo-Sikh War ===
Napier served under [[Hugh Gough, 1st Viscount Gough|Sir Hugh Gough]] during the [[First Anglo-Sikh War]] and commanded the Bengal Engineers at the [[Battle of Mudki]] in December 1845.<ref name=heath223/> He was severely wounded at the [[Battle of Ferozeshah]] in December 1845 while storming the Sikh camp and was also present at the [[Battle of Sobraon]] in February 1846.<ref name=heath223/> Promoted to [[Brevet (military)|brevet]] major on 3 April 1846,<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=20591|page=1236|date=3 April 1846}}</ref> he was chief engineer at the [[siege]] of the fortress of Kote Kangra in the [[Punjab Province (British India)|Punjab]] by [[Hugh Wheeler (East India Company officer)|Brigadier-General Wheeler]] in May 1846.<ref name=heath223/>

=== Second Anglo-Sikh War ===
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 of [[Multan]] in September 1848 at the outset of the [[Second Anglo-Sikh War]].<ref name=heath223/> 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 of [[Chiniot]] shortly thereafter.<ref name=odnb/> He took part in the [[Battle of Gujrat]] in February 1849 and accompanied [[Sir Walter Gilbert, 1st Baronet|Sir Walter Gilbert]] as he pursued the Sikhs all the way to [[Rawalpindi]] and was present at the surrender ceremony of the [[Sikh Army]].<ref name=odnb/> He was promoted to brevet [[lieutenant-colonel]] on 7 June 1849<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=20986|page=1865|date=7 June 1849}}</ref> and became chief engineer to the Board of Administration of Punjab Province at the end of the War.<ref name=heath223/>

=== North-West Frontier ===
In December 1852 Napier took command of a column in the first [[Hazara Division|Hazara]] expedition,{{efn | Also see [[Muhammad Habib Khan Tarin]]}} and in November 1853 against the [[Afridis]] on the [[North-West Frontier (military history)|North-West frontier]].<ref name=odnb/> He crushed the Afridi Pashtun rebellion in the [[North-West Frontier Province]] and was promoted to the brevet rank of [[Colonel (United Kingdom)|colonel]] on 28 November 1854 and the substantive rank of lieutenant colonel on 15 April 1856.<ref name=heath223/>

=== Indian Mutiny ===
[[File:Felice Beato (British, born Italy - (Major-General Sir Robert Napier and Lieutenant-Colonel William Wilberforce Harris Greathed, Bengal ... - Google Art Project.jpg|thumb|upright|Napier (left) in India]]
Napier was appointed military secretary and [[adjutant general]] to [[Sir James Outram, 1st Baronet|Sir James Outram]], whose forces took part in the actions leading to the [[Siege of Lucknow#First relief of Lucknow|first relief of Lucknow]] in September 1857.{{sfn|Heathcote|1999|p=224}} He remained as chief engineer until the [[Siege of Lucknow#Second relief|second relief]] in November 1857, when he was badly wounded while crossing an exposed space with Outram and [[Henry Havelock|Sir Henry Havelock]] to meet with [[Colin Campbell, 1st Baron Clyde|Sir Colin Campbell]].<ref name=odnb/> He recovered sufficiently to be present at the [[capture of Lucknow]] in March 1858.{{sfn|Heathcote|1999|p=224}}

Napier then joined [[Hugh Rose, 1st Baron Strathnairn|Sir Hugh Rose]] as second-in-command for the march on [[Gwalior]] and commanded the 2nd Brigade at the Battle of Morar in June 1858.<ref name=odnb/> After [[Gwalior]] was captured by the British, Napier and his 700 men pursued, caught and defeated [[Tatya Tope]]'s force of 12,000 men on the plains of Jaora Alipur.<ref name=odnb/> 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.<ref name=odnb/>

== China ==
In January 1860, during the [[Second Opium War]], Napier assumed command of the [[2nd Infantry Division (United Kingdom)|2nd Division]] of the expeditionary force under [[James Hope Grant|Sir James Hope Grant]]. In the [[Battle of Taku Forts (1860)|Battle of Taku Forts]] he led the assault on the main northern fort on 21 August 1860<ref name=odnb/> where he counted six bullet holes in his clothing and equipment.{{sfn|Heathcote|1999|p=224}} The Anting Gate in [[Beijing|Peking]] was surrendered to Napier on 13 October 1860{{sfn|Wolseley|1862|p=273}} and he was responsible for protecting [[James Bruce, 8th Earl of Elgin|Lord Elgin]]'s line of march into Peking on 24 October 1860.{{sfn|Wolseley|1862|p=292}} He was promoted to brevet [[major-general]] on 15 February 1861<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=22480|page=655|date=15 February 1861}}</ref> and to the substantive rank of colonel on 18 February 1861.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=22621|page=2238|date=29 April 1862}}</ref>

Napier became the military member of the Council of the [[Governor-General of India]] in 1861, acting for a short while as Governor-General after the sudden death of [[James Bruce, 8th Earl of Elgin|Lord Elgin]].<ref name=odnb/> He assumed command of the [[Bombay Army]] with the local rank of [[lieutenant general]] on 7 February 1865<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=22937|page=591|date=7 February 1865}}</ref> and received promotion to the substantive rank of lieutenant-general on 1 March 1867<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=23250|page=2759|date=14 May 1867}}</ref> before taking command of the [[British Expedition to Abyssinia|punitive expedition to Abyssinia]] July 1867.{{sfn|Heathcote|1999|p=224}}

== Abyssinia ==
{{See also|British Expedition to Abyssinia}}
[[File:Robert Cornelis Napier, Vanity Fair, 1878-04-20.jpg|thumb|upright|"The [[British Expedition to Abyssinia|British Expedition]]". Caricature by [[Leslie Ward|Spy]] published in ''[[Vanity Fair (UK magazine)|Vanity Fair]]'' in 1878.]]
Napier achieved his greatest fame as an army officer when he led the expedition of 1868 against Emperor [[Tewodros II]] of [[Ethiopia]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Robert-Napier-1st-Baron-Napier|title=Robert Napier, 1st Baron Napier|date=25 January 2016|newspaper=Encyclopædia Britannica|access-date=12 January 2022}}</ref> The Ethiopian ruler was holding a number of Protestant missionaries hostage, in his mountain capital of [[Amba Mariam|Magdala]], 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 at [[Zula]] on the [[Red 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 the [[Ethiopian Highlands]].<ref name=odnb/>

The expedition involved crossing {{convert|400|mi|km|0}}{{sfn|Stanley|1874|p=285}} 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.{{sfn|Vibart|1894|p=410}} 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 Emperor [[Yohannes IV]]) and arranged to purchase needed supplies with the 4.35 million [[Maria Theresa thaler]]s (the preferred currency of the area) the British had purchased from the mint in [[Vienna]]. 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.{{sfn|Rubenson|2003|pp=256–263}}{{sfn|Pankhurst|1968|p=469}}

Napier's troops reached the foot of Magdala on 9 April 1868.{{sfn|Stanley|1874|p=402}} The next day, [[Good Friday]], he defeated the 9,000 troops still loyal to Tewodros at the [[Battle 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."{{sfn|Rubenson|2003|p=268}} 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.<ref>{{Cite web | first1=Andreas | last1=Eshete | first2=Richard | last2=Pankhurst | url=http://www.ethioembassy.org.uk/fact%20file/a-z/Looted%20Treasure/Afromet%20Memorandum%20on%20the%20Loot%20from%20Maqdala.htm | title=Memorandum on the Loot from Magdala (Ethiopia) addressed to the Culture, Media and Sport Committee of the United Kingdom Parliament, by the Association for the Return of the Ethiopian Magdala Treasures | access-date=24 November 2013 | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120209085041/http://www.ethioembassy.org.uk/fact%20file/a-z/Looted%20Treasure/Afromet%20Memorandum%20on%20the%20Loot%20from%20Maqdala.htm | archive-date=9 February 2012 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|work=Reuters |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-ethiopia-britain/british-museum-to-return-royal-hair-seized-in-ethiopia-150-years-ago-idUSKCN1QL1N2 |first=Aaron |last=Maasho |date=4 March 2019 |title=British museum to return royal hair seized in Ethiopia 150 years ago}}</ref>

After the Ethiopian campaign, Napier was made a Fellow of the [[Royal Society]]<ref>{{cite web|url=https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AmIblj8F2r_GdG9aaFZRMjNrYUZXVHkzeXRzdmhFTmc&usp=sharing#gid=0|publisher=The Royal Society |title= Fellowship of Royal Society|access-date=24 November 2022}}</ref> and a [[Freedom of the City#Freedom of the City of London|Freeman]] of the [[City of London]].<ref name=odnb/> He was also elevated to the peerage as [[Baron Napier of Magdala]] on 11 July 1868<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=23400|page=3937|date=14 July 1868}}</ref> and granted an [[Life annuity|annuity]] for life.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=23409|page=4325|date=4 August 1868}}</ref>

== Later career ==
Napier became [[Commander-in-Chief, India]], with the local rank of full general in April 1870,<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=23585|page=755|date=8 February 1870}}</ref> and having been promoted to the substantive rank of full general on 1 April 1874,<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=24082|page=1924|date=31 March 1874}}</ref> he became [[Governor of Gibraltar]] in June 1876.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=24342|page=3820|date=4 July 1876}}</ref> 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.<ref name=odnb/> When war did not break out he returned to his duties in Gibraltar. In November 1879 he represented [[Queen Victoria]] at [[Madrid]] as [[ambassador|ambassador extraordinary]] upon the occasion of [[Alfonso XII of Spain]]'s second marriage and in December 1879 he became a member of the [[Royal Commission]] on the organization of the army.<ref name=odnb/> Standing down as Governor of Gibraltar,<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=25175|page=6250|date=8 December 1882}}</ref> he was promoted to [[Field marshal (United Kingdom)|field marshal]] on 1 January 1883.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=25183|page=6650|date=29 December 1882}}</ref>

Napier was also honorary colonel of the 3rd London Rifle Volunteer Corps<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=23403|page=4118|date=24 July 1868}}</ref> and colonel-commandant of the Royal Engineers.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=24082|page=1923|date=31 March 1874}}</ref> In January 1887 he was appointed [[Constable of the Tower|Constable of the Tower of London]].<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=25662|page=100|date=7 January 1887}}</ref>

Napier died of [[influenza]] at his residence in London on 14 January 1890. He was given a [[state funeral]] and buried in [[St Paul's Cathedral]] on 21 January 1890.<ref name=odnb/><ref>"Memorials of St Paul's Cathedral" [[William Sinclair (Archdeacon of London)|Sinclair, W.]] p. 461: London; Chapman & Hall, Ltd; 1909</ref>

== Legacy ==
In 1883 the British government installed one [[Armstrong Gun|Armstrong]] [[RML 17.72-inch gun|100 ton gun]] in a battery in Gibraltar that they named the [[Napier of Magdala Battery]]{{Sfn|Fa|Finlayson|2006|p=64}} and in 1891 a statue of Napier on horseback by [[Joseph Boehm|Sir Joseph Boehm]] was unveiled in front of Carlton House Gardens in London: it was moved to Queen's Gate, Kensington in 1920.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.pastscape.org.uk/hob.aspx?hob_id=1492584&sort=4&search=all&criteria=north%20carlton&rational=q&recordsperpage=60|title=Statue of Robert Cornelis Napier, Baron Napier of Magdala|publisher=Pastscape|access-date=24 November 2022}}</ref>

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.<ref>{{cite book|first=Planck |last= Digby|title= The Shiny Seventh: History of the 7th (City of London) Battalion London Regiment|year=1946|isbn= 1-84342-366-9}}</ref>

== Honours ==
Napier's honours included:
* [[Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath]] (GCB) – 27 April 1868<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=23374|page=2431|date=28 April 1868}}</ref> (KCB – 27 July 1858<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=22166|page=3475|date=27 July 1858}}</ref>)
* [[Knight Grand Commander of the Order of the Star of India]] (GCSI) – 16 September 1867<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=23302|page=5109|date=17 September 1867}}</ref>

{{Infobox COA wide
|image = [[File:Coronet of a British Baron.svg|centre|150px]][[File:Napier of Magdala Escutcheon.png|centre|200px]]
|escutcheon = Gules on a saltire between two mural crowns in pale and as many lions passant in fess Or a rose of the field.
|crest = On a mount Vert a lion passant Or gorged with a collar Gules and a broken chain reflexed over the back Gold supporting with the dexter forepaw a flagstaff in bend sinister Proper therefrom flowing a banner Argent charged with a cross couped Gules.
|supporters = Dexter a soldier of the royal engineers; sinister a Sikh sirdar; both habited and each holding in his exterior hand a musket; all Proper.
|motto = Tu Vincula Frange<ref>{{cite book|title=Debrett's Peerage |date=1891}}</ref>}}

== Family ==
In June 1840 Napier married Anne Pearse; they had three sons and three daughters before his wife died in childbirth in 1849.<ref name=heath223/> In April 1861 he married Maria Cecilia Smythe Scott: they had six sons and three daughters.{{sfn|Heathcote|1999|p=224}}

== Notes ==
{{notelist}}

== References ==
{{reflist}}

== Sources ==
* {{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BC5QBR0oB04C&q=Parson%27s+Lodge+Battery|title=The Fortifications of Gibraltar, 1068–1945|last2=Finlayson|first2=Clive|publisher=Gibraltar Museum|year=2006|isbn=9781846030161|last1=Fa|first1=Darren}}
* {{cite book|last=Heathcote|first=Tony|title=The British Field Marshals, 1736–1997: A Biographical Dictionary |publisher= Leo Cooper|location=Barnsley|year= 1999|isbn= 0-85052-696-5}}
* {{cite book|first=Richard |last=Pankhurst|title=An Introduction to the Economic History of Ethiopia|publisher=Addis Ababa: Haile Selassie I University|year= 1968|isbn=978-0283354687}}
* {{cite book|first=Sven|last= Rubenson|title=The Survival of Ethiopian Independence|publisher=Hollywood: Tsehai|year= 2003|isbn=978-0435942410}}
* {{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/coomassiemagdala00stan|title=Coomassie and Magdala: the story of two British campaigns in Africa|last=Stanley|first=Henry|publisher=Harper & Brothers|year=1874|location=New York|author-link=Henry Morton Stanley}}
* {{cite book |first=Henry |last=Vibart |title=Addiscombe: its heroes and men of note |place=Westminster |publisher=Archibald Constable |year=1894 |pages=405–413 |ol=23336661M }}
* {{cite book|last=Wolseley|first=Garnet|title=Narrative of the War with China in 1860 |url=https://archive.org/details/narrativewarwit00wolsgoog|publisher= Longman Green Longman and Roberts|location=London|year= 1862|isbn= 1357525575}}

== External links ==
{{Commons category|Robert Napier, 1st Baron Napier of Magdala|Robert Napier}}

* [https://www.artuk.org/artdetective/discoveries/discoveries/portrait-confirmed-to-be-by-lowes-cato-dickinson Portrait] by [[Lowes Cato Dickinson]]
* {{Internet Archive author |sname=Robert Napier, 1st Baron Napier of Magdala}}

{{s-start}}
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{{succession box | title=[[Governor of Gibraltar]] | before=[[Sir William Williams, 1st Baronet, of Kars|Sir William Williams]] | after= [[John Miller Adye|Sir John Adye]] | years=1876–1883}}
{{s-hon}}
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{{s-end}}

{{Governors of Gibraltar}}
{{Commander-in-Chief, India}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Napier, Robert}}
[[Category:1810 births]]
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[[Category:Alumni of Addiscombe Military Seminary]]
[[Category:Barons in the Peerage of the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Bengal Engineers officers]]
[[Category:British expatriates in Ethiopia]]
[[Category:British field marshals]]
[[Category:British military personnel of the Abyssinian War]]
[[Category:British military personnel of the First Anglo-Sikh War]]
[[Category:British military personnel of the Indian Rebellion of 1857]]
[[Category:British military personnel of the Second Anglo-Sikh War]]
[[Category:British military personnel of the Second Opium War]]
[[Category:Burials at St Paul's Cathedral]]
[[Category:Clan Napier|Robert]]
[[Category:Constables of the Tower of London]]
[[Category:Fellows of the Royal Society]]
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