Redvers Buller(1839-1908)
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.
