NAPIER OF MAGDALA, ROBERT CORNELIS NAPIER, I ST BARON (1810-189o), British field-marshal, son of Major Charles Frederick Napier, was born at Colombo, Cey lon, on Dec. 6, 181o. He entered the Bengal Engineers from Addiscombe College in 1826, and after the usual course of instruc tion at Chatham, arrived in India in November 1828. For some years he was employed in the irrigation branch of the public works department, and in 1838 he laid out the new hill station at Darjeeling. Promoted captain in January 1841, he was ap pointed to Sirhind, where he laid out cantonments on a new prin ciple—known as the Napier system—for the troops returning from Afghanistan. In December 1845 he joined the army of the Sutlej, and commanded the Engineers at the battle of Mudki, where he had a horse shot under him. At the battle of Ferozeshah on Dec. 31 he again had his horse shot under him, and, joining the 31st Regiment on foot, was severely wounded in storming the entrenched Sikh camp. He was present at the battle of So braon on Feb. so, 1846, and in the advance to Lahore. He was chief engineer at the reduction of Kote-Kangra by Brigadier General Wheeler in May 1846, and received the thanks of gov ernment. He was then appointed consulting engineer to the Pun jab resident and council of regency, but was again called to the field to direct the siege of Multan. He was wounded in the attack on the entrenched position in September 1848, but was present at the action of Shujabad, the capture of the suburbs, the successful storm of Multan on Jan. 23, 1849, and the surrender of the fort of Chiniot. He then joined Lord Gough, took part, as commanding engineer of the right wing, in the battle of Gujrat in February 1849, accompanied Sir W. R. Gilbert in his pursuit of the Sikhs and Afghans, and was present at the passage of the Jhelum, the surrender of the Sikh army, and the surprise of Attock. At the close of the war Napier was appointed civil engineer to the board of administration of the annexed Punjab province, and carried out many important public works. In December 1852 he commanded a column in the first Hazara ex pedition, and in the following year against the Boris. He was appointed military secretary and adjutant-general to Sir James Outram's force for the relief of Lucknow in the Indian Mutiny in 1857, and was engaged in the actions which culminated in the first relief of Lucknow. He directed the defence of Lucknow until the second relief, when he was severely wounded in crossing an open space with Outram and Havelock to meet Colin Campbell. He was chief of the staff to Outram in the defence of the Alam bagh position, and drew up the plan of operations for the attack of Lucknow, which was approved by Campbell and carried out by Napier, as brigadier-general commanding the Engineers, in March 1858. On the fall of Lucknow Napier received the C.B.
He joined Sir Hugh Rose as second-in-command in his march on Gwalior, and commanded the 2nd brigade at the action of Morar on June 16. On the fall of Gwalior he was entrusted with the task of pursuing the enemy. With only 700 men he came up with Tantia Topi and 12,000 men on the plains of Jaora Alipur and completely defeated him, capturing all his guns (25), ammunition and baggage. On Rose's departure he took command of the Gwalior division, captured Paori in August, routed Ferozeshah, a prince of the house of Delhi, at Ranode in December, and in Jan uary 1859, succeeded in securing the surrender of Man Singh and Tantia Topi, which ended the war. For his services Napier re ceived the thanks of parliament and of the Indian government, and was made K.C.B.
In January 186o Napier was appointed to the command of the 2nd division of the expedition to China under Sir Hope Grant, and took part in the action of Sinho, the storm of the Peiho forts, and the entry to Peking. For the next four years Napier was military member of the council of the governor-general of India and, on the sudden death of Lord Elgin, for a short time acted as governor-general, until the arrival of Sir W. T. Denison from Madras. In January 1865 he was given the command of the Bombay army; in March 1867 he was promoted lieutenant-gen eral, and, later in that year, appointed to command the expedition to Abyssinia, selecting his own troops and making all the prepara•. tions for the campaign. He arrived at Annesley Bay in the Red Sea in January 1868, reached Magdala, 420 m. from the coast, in April ; stormed the stronghold, freed the captives, razed the place to the ground, returned to the coast, and on the 18th June the last man of the expedition had left Africa. He received for his services the thanks of parliament, a pension, a peerage, the G.C.B., the G.C.S.I., and many academic honors. He held the command-in-chief in India for six years from 1870, during which he did much to benefit the army and to encourage good shooting. He was promoted general in 1874, and appointed a colonel-com mandant of the Royal Engineers. In 1876 he was the guest of the German crown prince at the military manoeuvres, and from that year until 1883 held the government and command of Gib raltar. In the critical state of affairs in 1877 he was nominated commander-in-chief of the force which it was proposed to send to Constantinople. On Jan. 1, 1883 he was promoted to be field marshal, and in December 1886 appointed Constable of the Tower of London. He died in London on Jan. 14, 1890.
See H. D. Napier, Field Marshal Lord Napier of Magdala (1927).