Lord Fredrick Sleigh Roberts

Display Hall: Lord Fredrick Sleigh Roberts

Lord Roberts 1

After the defeat of the British forces during the so called Black Week, Sir Buller was replaced by Lord Fredrick Sleigh Roberts as commander of Her Majesty’s Forces in South Africa. Lord Roberts with the rank of Field Marshall and of Irish decent was not a popular choice with Queen Victoria. His advancing force captured Bloemfontein in March 1900 and Pretoria in June 1900. He handed over command to Lord Kitchener and returned to Great Britain as Britain regarded the war as over after the capture of Pretoria.

The displays will portray the participation of Great Britain and her territories (Australia, New Zealand and Canada) during the Anglo-Boer War and focus especially on the hardships endured by the ordinary soldiers. One of the objects displayed is a chocolate tin. In total 123 000 tins of chocolate were distributed to soldiers as a Christmas gift in 1900 from Queen Victoria. These tins were designed by Barclay & Fry Ltd. of Southwark and the chocolate was manufactured and donated by Mr. Cadbury.

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