Robert Napier , 1st Baron Napier of Magdala Field Marshal Robert Cornelis Napier , 1st Baron Napier of Magdala , GCB , GCSI , CIE , FRS ( 6 December 1810 – 14 January 1890 ) was a British soldier . Early life . Napier was the son of Major Charles Frederick Napier , who was wounded at the storming of Meester Cornelis ( now Jatinegara ) in Java on ( 26 August 1810 ) and died some months later . Robert was born in Ceylon on 6 December 1810 . He was educated at Addiscombe Military Seminary from which he joined the Bengal Engineers at the age of 18 , arriving in India in November 1828 . Indian service . Napier was employed in the irrigation works of the Public Works Department for some years , before being promoted to Captain in January 1841 , when he was appointed to Sirhind . First Anglo - Sikh War . In December 1845 he joined the Army of the Sutlej and commanded the Bengal Engineers at the Battle of Mudki . He was severely wounded at the battle of Ferozeshah on 31 December 1845 while storming the Sikh camp . He was also present at the battle of Sobraon on 10 February 1846 and in the advance on Lahore . He was mentioned in despatches for his services and received a brevet major ity . In May 1846 he was chief engineer at the reduction of the fortress of Kote Kangra in the Punjab by Brigadier - General Wheeler , for which he received the thanks of the government . Second Anglo - Sikh War . Having been appointed as consulting engineer to the Punjab resident and Council of Regency , in 1848 Napier was again called into action , to direct the siege of Multan . In September 1848 he was wounded in the attack , but managed to be present at the successful storming of Multan on 23 January 1849 and the surrender of the fortress of Chiniot . Joining Sir Hugh Gough , Napier then took part in the battle of Gujrat in February 1849 , accompanied Sir Walter Gilbert as he pursued the Sikhs , and was present at the passage of the Jhelum , and the surrender of the Sikh army . For his services he was mentioned in despatches and received a brevet lieutenant - colonelcy . At the close of the war he was appointed civil engineer to the Board of Administration of the annexed province of Punjab , and carried out many significant public works during his time in that position . North - West Frontier . In December 1852 Napier took command of a column in the first Hazara expedition , and in the following year against the Baris on the North - West frontier . For his services he was again mentioned in despatches , and received the special thanks of the government and a brevet - colonel cy . Indian Mutiny . Napier was appointed military secretary and adjutant - general to Sir James Outram , whose forces took part in the actions leading to the first relief of Lucknow on 25 September 1857 . He then took charge of Lucknow ' s defence until the second relief , when he was badly wounded while crossing an exposed space with Outram and Sir Henry Havelock to meet with Sir Colin Campbell . After the fall of Lucknow , Napier was mentioned in despatches and made CB . He then joined Sir Hugh Rose as second - in - command in the march on Gwalior , and commanded the 2nd Brigade at the battle of Morar on 16 June 1858 . After Gwalior fell , he and his 700 men pursued , caught and completely defeated Tantya Tope and 12 , 000 men on the plains of Jaora Alipur . After Sir Hugh Rose ' s departure , Napier assumed command of the Gwalior division . He captured Paori in August , routed Prince Ferozeshah at Ranode in December , and in January 1859 succeeded in securing the surrender of Man Singh and Tatya Tope , ending the war . For his services Napier received the thanks of parliament and of the Indian government , and was made GCB . China . In January 1860 during the Second Anglo - Chinese War , Napier assumed command of the 2nd division of the expeditionary force under Sir James Hope Grant . Napier took part in the action at Sinho , the storming of the Taku ( Peiho ) Forts , and the entry to Peking . For his services he received the thanks of parliament , and was promoted major - general for distinguished service in the field . Napier was a military member of the Governor - General of India ' s council until 1865 , acting for a short while as Governor - General after the sudden death of Lord Elgin . In January 1865 he assumed command of the Bombay Army . In March 1867 he received promotion to lieutenant - general and later that year took command of the punitive expedition to Abyssinia . Abyssinia . He achieved his greatest fame as an army officer when he led the expedition of 1868 against Emperor Tewodros II of Ethiopia . The Ethiopian ruler was holding a number of Protestant missionaries hostage , in his mountain capital of Magdala , as well as two British diplomats who had unsuccessfully attempted to free them . After months of planning and other preparations , the advance guard of engineers landed at Zula on the Red Sea to construct a port on 30 October 1867 ; Napier himself arrived in Zula on 2 January 1868 , and on 25 January led his troops south in the Ethiopian highlands . The expedition involved crossing of mountainous terrain lacking roads or bridges occupied by local people with a known history of hostility towards outsiders . The expedition overcame the first obstacle , the terrain , by thorough logistical planning and engineering ability . Shrewd diplomacy dealt with the second obstacle , local opposition . On the one hand , Napier made it clear to the Ethiopians that the sole intent of the British force was to rescue the imprisoned Europeans — not conquest ; on the other , Napier met with local potentates such as Ras Kassa ( the future Emperor Yohannes IV ) , and arranged to purchase needed supplies with the 4 . 35 million Maria Theresa Thaler s ( the preferred currency of the area ) the British had purchased from the mint in Vienna . What helped Napier was the general disaffection with , if not hostility to , Tewodros . Napier ' s troops reached the foot of Magdala on 9 April and the next day , Good Friday , where they defeated the 9 , 000 troops still loyal to Tewodros at the Battle of Magdala for the loss of only 2 British lives . Although Emperor Tewodros surrendered his hostages and made repeated efforts for a negotiated surrender , Napier pressed on and ordered an assault on the mountain redoubt 13 April . The British captured Magdala , and Emperor Tewodros took his own life , preferring to " fall into the hands of God , rather than man . " Napier then ordered the destruction of Tewodros ' artillery and the burning of Magdala . The expedition and its troops looted many historical and religious artifacts , which they took back to Britain . The looted artifacts still reside in collections in the UK , despite representations by various parties for their return . After the Ethiopian campaign , Napier received many honors . The Royal Society of London for the Improvement of Natural Knowledge inducted him as a member in 1869 . He received a parliamentary pension , was made Grand Commander of the Order of the Bath and a Freeman of the City of London and by way of victory title was given a hereditary peerage , Baron Napier of Magdala . Later career . Napier became Commander - in - Chief in India ( 1870 – 1876 ) , being promoted to general in 1874 . From 1876 to 1883 he served as Governor of Gibraltar . In 1877 , during a tense period in European politics , he was appointed commander - in - chief of a proposed force which was to be dispatched to Constantinople . In 1879 he was a member of the Royal Commission on the organization of the army , and in November of the same year represented Queen Victoria at Madrid as ambassador extraordinary upon the occasion of Alfonso XII of Spain ' s second marriage . On 1 January 1883 Napier was promoted to Field Marshal , and in January 1887 appointed Constable of the Tower of London . He died in London on 14 January 1890 , receiving a state funeral and being buried in St . Paul ' s Cathedral . His eldest son , Robert William Napier ( born 1845 ) succeeded to his barony . External links .