Bisbee daily review. [volume] (Bisbee, Ariz.) 1901-1971, 1915-09-21
RISE FROM RANKS
TO CHIEF OF STAFF
OF BRITISH ARMY
Phenomenal Progress of Sir Viii
liam Robertson; Strenuous |
Application Affords UnpreCed-
ented Promotion.

bhll 1911 ltEAlJNtN An AsAN'f T. '''i'0'
Sept. 20.-Little is known to the out
side world about Sir William Robert
son. X. c. v. o.. d. S. o., whose re-
markable career from the ranks to
Chief OF staff of the army, is so well
known to the army itself His work
I'm relation to that of Sir John French,
the commander-in-chief, has been de-
scribed as that of the general mana.
ger of great corporation TO that OF
it's president
A powerfully built country boy, hP
came to London at the age of nineteen
and enlisted in the 9th Lanccrs. Pro
motion from the -anKs is not frequent
The great 1iajority of officers come
from the Military school at Sandhurst
But the door is kept open for a pri
vate Il good education and character
BY passing a stiff examination he may
recure a commission.
Young Robertson had had only an
elementary education; but he set out
to make up the deficiency by study
He invested his shilling a day which
is the pay Of a British private, in
books. AS a British regular trooper
has none too much time to himself
he used to get comrades to read 10
him from Bacon and the English elias
sizes while he was grooming his horse
or cleaning his equipment
Not until he had served ten years
did he pass his examination which
gave him a commission in the Ord
Dragon Guards. He was then % and
the average second lieutenant had a.
bout eight years the start of him on
the army list In the course Of lineal
promotion he could never hope TO be
more than a major. Special promo
tion could come only through distin-
guishing himself Macdonald. who
won fame by his charge at Omduran
and other eminent British command
ers who had risen from the ranks had
won their way as natural leaders of
men in the field. Robertson's career
is the more striking. officers say. be
cause it is due to excellence in organ
ization and in the application of the
methods Of modern war which pre-
supposes the grounding Of a thorough
scientific military education
Four years after he had received
his commits sion, he had won enough
attention 90 be assigned to the In
telligence branch Of the Quartermas-
ter's Department IN India. In India
he found his opportunity. Rewards
I are given officers for learning the ma.
/ tive dialects
To the average officer there is moth.
ing very attractive in spending hours
with a native "munshi" or teacher in
acquiring a tongue which can be OF
use with only some frontier tribe
Robertson offered his munshi a quar-
ter Of the reward when he was pro
. fcient enough to earn it by passing an
examination.
Sir William, when he is reminis
cent, viii recall what an excellent
bargain this proved TO be. The mum
shi saw to il that his pupil did moi
fail to improve any spare moments
He would be waiting at his pupil,
door at daybreak and put him through
an hours lesson before breakfast
Having mastered one dialect Robert
son undertook another and then an
other Soon he became known as
language expert This gained fo
him another opportunity which wal
to apply his knowledge by explora
! tions on the northwest frontier Wher
the Chitral trouble came his Hnguis
tic accomplishments and his knowl
edge of the country were invaluable
lie came out of the Chitral campaign
, with the Distinguished Service Orde
for services which included ganantr!
in action when he was severely woun,
ed. Now be was a marked man" Fl
the service. marked by stubborn an
Dlication which had brought hin
from the ranks and by his demon
y strated ability"
Everyone had to admire him." a
% another general said HE had VOL
+ his way without influence agains
odds by heer hard work making tn
most of his natural gifts
On the staff throughout the Sout
d African campaign he earned tn
, praise Of Roberts and Kitchener b
his capacity for getting things don
u when others sometimes failed. Whe
D i'm 1910 he was placed in command q
the Army STAFF College even thos
Who agreed that he had shown hin
self to be the man for the place wer
81 amazed at the thought of a man VIII
had been for ten years a privat
D., without any groundwork of reguls
academic education should becom
D the director of an institution whic
ii gathers the ablest officers of the a
my for instruction i'm the highe
branches Of war and gives the chara
D. ter TO army organization in time
war
Meantime he had kept on with h
languages. He now knew French an
20 German and he had studied the cont
mental army systems. There seen
~ 20 be general agreement that his IN
y provement of the staff college mark,
/. am epoch
AS Director of Military Training
the War Office he later had much
do with the preparation of the Britt,
I'm EXpediuonary Force He went
France with It as Quartermaster-Ge