George Scott Robertson: Difference between revisions

{{Use British English|date=February 2022}}

Robertson was born in London and received his education at the Westminster Hospital Medical School (now Chelsea and Westminster Hospital, London). In 1878 he entered the [[Indian Medical Service]] and served throughout the [[Second Anglo-Afghan War]] of 1878–80. In 1888 he was attached to the Indian Foreign Office and assigned as agency surgeon in [[Gilgit]], in northern India, now [[Pakistan]]. According to his book it was around this time, during the war and while in Gilgit, that Robertson became interested in the land and way of life of the Kafir people. He asked the Government of [[British Raj|India]] for permission to journey to Kafiristan, and by October 1889 was on his way, departing from [[Chitral]] in what is now northwest Pakistan in the company of several Kafir headmen of the [[Kom people (Afghanistan)|Kam]] tribe. His journey lasted just over a year, ending in 1891, and providing Robertson with first-hand experience of what to him were the strange customs and colourful people of Kafiristan.

In 1893, after his travels in Kafiristan, Surgeon Major Robertson was reassigned to the then-independent [[State of Chitral]], this time as a political agent. In 1895 he brought a force of around 400 soldiers, under the direct command of Captain [[Charles Vere Ferrers Townshend]], from Gilgit to oversee the transfer of power in Chitral following the death of its ruler, [[Aman ul-Mulk]]. After his arrival, Robertson engaged in a series of complex political and military manoeuvres, during which hostility from local tribesmen led to his forces to move into [[Chitral Expedition|Chitral Fort]] for protection. The six-week siege that followed included an unsuccessful sortie on 3 March 1895, when the British led forces took heavy losses.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Much Sounding of Bugles: The Siege of Chitral|last=Harris|first=John|date=1975|publisher=Hutchinson|pages= 47–59}}</ref> The siege was raised on 19 April when a relief force under [[James Graves Kelly|Colonel Kelly]] arrived and dispersed the armed tribesmen. For his service during the famous [[Chitral Expedition|siege]] Robertson was made a [[Knight Commander of the Order of the Star of India]]<ref>{{London Gazette|issue= 26644|date= 16 July 1895|page=4021|city= London}}</ref> and appointed British agent in Gilgit. It was he who took the important decision of installing and recognising [[Shuja ul-Mulk]] as the provisional Mehtar of [[Chitral (princely state)|Chitral]], subject to approval of the Government.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IH2-BAAAQBAJ&pg=PA1|title=The Chitral Campaign|last=Thomson|first=H. C.|date=2012-11-19|publisher=Andrews UK Limited|isbn=9781781513491|pages=3–9|language=en}}</ref> He later wrote a book by the title ''[[Chitral; the Story of a Minor Siege]]'' recounting the intense and dramatic events in Chitral.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BlUwAQAAIAAJ|title=Chitrál: the story of a minor siege|last=Robertson|first=Sir George Scott|date=2001|publisher=Bhavana Books & Prints|isbn=9788186505526|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Syg9jwEACAAJ|title=Chitral the Story of a Minor Siege|last=Robertson|first=George Scott|date=2016-01-02|publisher=Ishi Press|isbn=9784871875288|language=en}}</ref>

Robertson continued in the Indian Service until his retirement in 1899.  He then returned to Great Britain where he made an unsuccessful bid for political office as a [[Liberal party (UK)|Liberal party]] candidate in [[Stirlingshire (UK Parliament constituency)|Stirlingshire]] at the [[1900 United Kingdom general election|1900 general election]],<ref name="craig1885-1918">{{cite book|last=Craig|first=F. W. S.|author-link= F. W. S. Craig|title=British parliamentary election results 1885–1918|orig-year=1974|edition= 2nd|year=1989|publisher= Parliamentary Research Services|location=Chichester|isbn= 0-900178-27-2|page=561}}</ref> but later was elected in [[Bradford Central (UK Parliament constituency)|Central Bradford]] in [[1906 United Kingdom general election|1906]].<ref>Craig, op. cit., page 79</ref> He held his seat in the [[House of Commons of the United Kingdom|House of Commons]] until his death on New Year's Day, 1916.<ref>{{Rayment-hc|b|4|date=March 2022}}</ref>

He was elected a Fellow of the [[Royal Botanic Society]] of London in November 1902.<ref>{{Cite newspaper The Times |title= Court News |date=27 November 1902 |page=10 |issue=36936}}</ref>