Abraham Roberts
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2021}}
{{Use Irish English|date=January 2021}}
{{short description|British military officer}}
{{Infobox military person
| honorific_prefix = General
| name = Sir Abraham Roberts
| honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|GCB}}
| image = Abraham Roberts - Project Gutenberg eText 16528.jpg
| caption = Sir Abraham Roberts
| birth_date = {{birth date|1784|04|11|df=yes}}
| death_date = {{death date and age|1873|12|28|1784|04|11|df=yes}}
| birth_place = Waterford, Ireland
| death_place =
| nickname =
| allegiance = {{flagcountry|United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland}}
| branch = British East India Company
| serviceyears =
| rank = General
| unit = 1st Bengal European Regiment
| commands = 1st Bengal European Regiment
Lahore Division
| battles = First Afghan War
| awards = Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath
| relations = Frederick Roberts, 1st Earl Roberts (son)
Frederick Roberts (grandson)
| laterwork =
}}
General Sir Abraham Roberts (11 April 1784 – 28 December 1873) was a British East India Company Army general who served nearly 50 years in India.
Roberts had two sons, who both obtained the highest ranks in the British Army. One son and a grandson would win the Victoria Cross, the highest decoration for bravery in the face of the enemy in the British Army.
Early life
{{Unsourced|section|date=January 2023}}
Abraham Roberts was a member of a famous Waterford family. He was the son of Anne (Sandys) and The Reverend John Roberts, a magistrate in County Waterford and a rector of Passage East.
Career
General Sir Abraham Roberts gained the rank of colonel in the service of the Honourable East India Company and was the commander of the 1st Bengal European Regiment and the Lahore Division.{{cite news |title=Lord Roberts - A Great Soldier's Story of his Own Career |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1897/01/16/archives/lord-roberts-a-great-soldiers-story-of-his-own-career-in-india-and.html |work=The New York Times |date=16 January 1897 |access-date=23 April 2010}} He fought in the First Afghan War.
Roberts was invested as a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath (GCB). He left India in 1853 to live in Ireland with his second wife, who outlived him. He also had a home in Bristol, 25 Royal York Crescent, Bristol, Somerset BS8 – England.{{cite web |title=Will on Genealogy.com |url=https://www.genealogy.com/ftm/j/o/l/Janine-Jol/GENE6-0002.html |access-date=8 January 2023 |quote=This is the last Will of me, General Sir Abraham Roberts KGB. of number 25 Royal York & Crescent Clifton Bristol. I bequeath unto and equally between my dearest Wife, Isabella Roberts and mu Daughter, Harriet Mercer Roberts […]}}
From 1862 until his death, he was Colonel of the 101st Regiment of Foot (Royal Bengal Fusiliers).{{cite web |url=http://www.regiments.org/regiments/uk/inf/101-862.htm |title=101st Regiment of Foot (Royal Bengal Fusiliers) |publisher=regiments.org |access-date=17 August 2016 |url-status=bot: unknown |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060330133039/http://www.regiments.org/regiments/uk/inf/101-862.htm |archive-date=30 March 2006 }}
Family
{{Unsourced|section|date=January 2023}}
He married Frances Isabella Ricketts, daughter of George Poyntz Ricketts, on 20 July 1820. On the death of his first wife, he married Isabella Bunbury, daughter of Abraham Bunbury, on 2 August 1830.
=Children with Frances Isabella Ricketts=
- Frances Eliza Roberts
- Maria Isabella Roberts
- Major General George Ricketts Roberts
=Children with Isabella Bunbury=
- Harriet Mercer Roberts
- Field Marshal Frederick Sleigh Roberts, 1st Earl Roberts
Arms
{{Infobox COA wide
|image = Sir Abraham Roberts Escutcheon.png
|escutcheon = Azure three estoiles Or on a chief wavy of the second an Eastern crown Gules.
|crest = A lion rampant Or armed and langued Gules charged on the shoulder with an Eastern crown of the last and holding in the dexter paw a sword the blade wavy Argent hilt and pommel Gold.
|motto = Virtute Et Valore
|notes = Confirmed by John Bernard Burke, Ulster King of Arms, 27 June 1865.{{cite web|url=https://catalogue.nli.ie/Record/vtls000529194 |page=111 |publisher=National Library of Ireland |access-date=14 January 2023 |title=Grants and Confirmations of Arms Vol. G|date=1863 }}}}
Footnotes
{{Reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Roberts, Abraham}}
Category:Military personnel from County Waterford
Category:Knights Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath
Category:British East India Company Army generals
Category:British military personnel of the First Anglo-Afghan War
Category:19th-century Anglo-Irish people
Category:Irish soldiers in the British East India Company Army