Redvers Buller

Redvers Buller was born on December 7, 1839 in Downes England, the scion of one of the area's oldest landed families. A graduate of Eton, he began his career in the British Army in 1858 when he was commissioned as an ensign in the King's Royal Rifles. Buller spent the next 28 years at posts in India, Canada and Africa. In 1882, he received knighthood by Queen Victoria for leading the British Army to victory in Arabi Pasha's Rebellion in Egypt. Sir Redvers then served with distinction as chief of staff during the Mahadist Uprising in the Sudan in 1884 as major-general, rising to the rank of full general on June 24, 1896. At the outbreak of the Boer War in South Africa in October 1899, General Buller was selected to command a force of 70,000 men charged with protecting British interests against the Boer insurgents. Buller turned out be be a better field commander than a strategist; as a result, his forces during the last months of 1899 and first few months of 1900 were defeated by the Boer guerillas using unconventional warfare tactics and Buller was soon replaced by Field Marshall Lord Roberts, a move that enabled him to take his proper place at the head of his troops. His first triumph was the relief of the town of Ladysmith, which was under siege by the Boer Afrikaners since November 1899. Genera Buller's forces succeed in driving the Boers under the command of Louis Botha from Ladysmith after a fierce battle on February 28, 1900 and entered the town the following day. Buller then set the stage for a British offensive into the Boer states of Transvaal and the Orange Free State, where in two months he captured the capital of Pretoria and ended the Afrikaners' struggle for independence. The war then settled into a protracted guerilla war which ended formal military operations, so Buller returned to England in November 1900 where he was awarded the Grand Cross of the Order of Saint Michael and was given command of the First Army Corps. Buller's military career ended in October 1901 when he was removed from his post for making a politically damaging speech. Buller died at his country home in Credition, England on June 2, 1908 at the age of 68.