BULLER, SIR REDVERS HENRY British general, was born on Dec. 7, 1839, at Downes, Crediton, Devon, of a family settled in Cornwall for three centuries. He was edu cated at Eton, entered the army in 1858, and served with the both (King's Royal Rifles) in the China campaign of 1860. In 1870 he became captain, and went on the Red River expedition, where he was first associated with Colonel (afterwards Lord) Wolseley. In 1873-74 he accompanied the latter in the Ashantee campaign as head of the intelligence department. He served in the Kaffir War of 1878-79 and the Zulu War of 1879, and in the retreat at Inhlobane (March 28, 1879) he earned the V.C. In the Boer War of 1881 he served as Sir Evelyn Wood's chief of staff. In 1882 he was head of the field intelligence department in Egypt. In 1884 he commanded an infantry brigade in the Sudan under Sir Gerald Graham, and was at the battles of El Teb and Tamai, being promoted major-general for distinguished service. In the Sudan campaign of 1884-85 he was Lord Wolseley's chief of staff, and commanded the desert column when Sir Herbert Stew art was wounded. He distinguished himself by his conduct of the retreat from Gubat to Gakdul, and by his victory at Abu Klea (Feb. 16-17) and he was created K.C.B. In 1886 he was sent to Ireland to inquire into the "moonlighting" outrages, and for a short time he acted as under-secretary for Ireland; but he was too much in sympathy with the Irish peasants to find the position tolerable, and on Oct. 15, 1887 he was appointed quarter master-general at the war office. In 1896 he was made a full general. From 1890 to 1897 he held the office of adjutant-general, being made lieutenant-general in 1891.
In 1898 he took command of the troops at Aldershot, and when the Boer War broke out in 1899 he was selected to command the South African field force (see TRANSVAAL), and landed at Cape Town on Oct. 31. Owing to the Boer investment of Ladysmith and the consequent gravity of the military situation in Natal, he left Methuen to relieve Kimberley, French and Gatacre to cover Cape Colony, and went to Natal himself. On Dec. 15 his first at tempt to cross the Tugela at Colenso was repulsed. The Govern ment, alarmed at the situation and the pessimistic tone of Buller's messages, sent out Lord Roberts to supersede him in the chief command, Sir Redvers being left in subordinate command of the Natal force. His second attempt to relieve Ladysmith (Jan. 10— 2 7) proved another failure, the result of the operations at Spion Kop (Jan. 24), where Sir Charles Warren was in command, caus ing consternation in England. Responsibility was divided, and there was some argument. Buller's despatch was censored, and only appeared in full in 1902. A third attempt (Vaalkrantz, Feb. was unsuccessful, but the Natal army finally accomplished its task in the series of actions which culminated in the victory of Pieter's Hill and the relief of Ladysmith on Feb. 27. Sir Redvers Buller remained in command of the Natal army till Oct. 1900, when he returned to England (being created G.C.M.G.), having in the meanwhile done a great deal of hard work in driving the Boers from the Biggarsberg (May 15) , forcing Lang's Nek ( June 12), and occupying Lydenburg (Sept. 6). But though these latter operations had done much to re-establish his reputation for dogged determination, and he had never lost the confidence of his own men, his capacity for an important command in delicate and difficult operations was now seriously questioned. The continu ance, therefore, in 1901 of his appointment to the important Al dershot command met with a vigorous Press criticism, in which the detailed objections taken to his conduct of the operations be fore Ladysmith (and particularly to a message to Sir George White in which he provided for the contingency of surrender) were given new prominence. On Oct. Io, 1901, at a luncheon in London, Sir Redvers Buller made a speech in answer to these criticisms in terms which were held to be a breach of discipline, and he was placed on half-pay a few days later. A motion (July 17, 1902) by Sir Edward Grey in the House of Commons censur ing government action in this case was defeated. For the remain ing years of his life Buller lived as a country gentleman, accepting in dignified silence the prolonged attacks on his failures in South Africa; among the public generally, and particularly in his own county, he never lost his popularity. He died on June 2, 2908. He had married in 1882 Lady Audrey, daughter of the 4th Marquess Townshend, who survived him with one daughter.
See South African Despatches (i 9oi) , and Royal Comm. on the war South Africa, Evidence ii., 169-223 and appendix J (19o4) ; also a brief Memoir, by Captain Lewis Butler of Buller's own regi ment 0909).