NAM.1963-10-76-1

Victoria Cross, 1899. Posthumously awarded to The Hon Frederick Hugh Sherston Roberts as a Lieutenant in the King’s Royal Rifle Corps for his actions on the 15 Dec 1899 at the Battle of Colenso, Boer War (1899-1902). Lt Roberts, with several others, tried to save the guns of the 14th and 66th Batteries, Royal Field Artillery, when the detachments serving the guns had all become casualties or been driven from their guns. Some of the horses and drivers were sheltering in a donga about 500 yards behind the guns and the intervening space was swept with shell and rifle fire. Lt Roberts with two other officers, W N Congreve and H N Schofield, helped to hook a team into a limber and then to limber up a gun. While doing so, he fell badly wounded and later died of his wounds sustained in the above action. Roberts was born in India on 8th January 1872 and died in Natal on 17th December 1899.

Colenso, Battle of, 1899 (Boer War 1899-1902)