COLONEL

See also:

• SIR

SIR

See also:

• ROBERT
• ROBERT (1275—1343)
• ROBERT, HUBERT (1753-1808)
• ROBERT, LOUIS LEOPOLD (1794-1835)

ROBERT

See also:

• WARBURTON, BARTHOLOMEW ELLIOTT GEORGE (1810-1852)
• COLONEL SIR ROBERT WARBURTON (1842–1899)
• WARBURTON, WILLIAM (1698–1779)

WARBURTON (1842–1899)  , Anglo-Indian soldier and administrator, was the son of an artillery officer who had been taken prisoner at Kabul in 1842, and escaped through the good offices of an Afghan princess . He married this lady, and she transmitted to their son that power of exercising influence over the tribes of the north-west frontier which stood him in good stead during his long service in India . Warburton entered the Royal Artillery in 1861, took part in the Abyssinian War of 1867--68, and then joined the Bengal Staff Corps . He served with distinction in the expedition against the Utman Khel in 1878 and in the Afghan War of 1878–80 . Very soon after the British government had made permanent arrangements for keeping open the Khyber Pass, Warburton was appointed to take charge of it as political officer . This post he held, discharging its duties with conspicuous ability, between 1879 and 1882 with intervals of other duty, and continuously from 1882 until 1890 . He turned the rude levies which formed the Khyber Rifles into a fine corps, ready to serve the Indian government wherever they might be required . He made the road safe, kept the Afridis friendly, and won the thanks of the Punjab government, expressed in a special order upon his retirement, for his good work . When the Afridis began to cause anxiety in 1897, Colonel Warburton was asked by the government of India if he would assist in quieting the excitement amongst them . He declared himself ready to do so, but in the meantime the trouble had come to a head . Colonel Warburton took part in the campaign which followed; at its close his active career ended . He occupied his leisure in retirement by writing his memoirs, Eighteen Years in the Khyber (1900) .

He died at

Kensington on the 22nd of April 1899 .