SALE, SIR ROBERT HENRY (1782-1845), British sol dier, entered the 36th Foot in 1795, and went to India in 1798, as a lieutenant of the 12th Foot. He served in the operations against Tippoo Sahib, against the raja of Travancore (1808-09) and in the expedition to Mauritius (i8io). After some years he became major in the 13th, with which regiment he was for the rest of his life associated. In the Burmese War he led the 13th in all the actions up to the capture of Rangoon, in one of which he killed the enemy's leader in single combat. In the concluding operations of the war, being now lieutenant-colonel, he com manded a brigade, and at Malown (1826) he was severely wounded. In 1838, on the outbreak of the Afghan War, Sale was assigned to the command of the ist Bengal brigade of the army assembling on the Indus. His column arrived at Kandahar in April 1839, and in May it occupied the Herat plain. The Kanda har force next set out on its march to Kabul, and a month later Ghazni was stormed, Sale in person leading the storming column and distinguishing himself in single combat. The place was well provisioned, and on its supplies the army finished its march to Kabul easily. He was left, as second-in-command, with the army of occupation, and in the interval between the two wars conducted several small campaigns ending with the action of Parwan which led directly to the surrender of Dost Mohammed.
By this time the army had settled down to the quiet life of cantonments, and Lady Sale and her daughter came to Kabul. But the policy of the Indian Government in stopping the subsidy to the frontier tribes roused them into hostility, and Sale's brigade received orders to clear the line of communication to Peshawar.
After severe fighting Sale entered Jalalabad on Nov. 12, 1841. Ten days previously he had received news of the murder of Sir Alexander Burnes, along with orders to return with all speed to Kabul. These orders he, for various reasons, decided to ignore; suppressing his personal desire to return to protect his wife and family, he gave orders to push on, and on occupying Jalalabad at once set about making the old and half-ruined fortress fit to stand a siege. There followed a close and severe investment. At last Pollock and the relieving army appeared, only to find that the garrison had on April 7, 1842, relieved itself by a brilliant and completely successful attack on Akbar's lines. Pollock and Sale after a time took the offensive, and after the victory of Haft Kotal, Sale's division encamped at Kabul again.
At the end of the war Sale received the thanks of parliament. In 1845, as quartermaster-general to Sir H. Gough's army, Sale again took the field. At Moodkee (Mudki) he was mortally wounded, and he died on Dec. 21, 1845. His wife, who shared with him the dangers and hardships of the Afghan war, was amongst Akbar's captives. Amongst the few possessions she was able to keep from Afghan plunderers was her diary (Journal of the Disasters in Afghanistan, London, 1843).
See Gleig, Sale's Brigade in Afghanistan (London, 1846) ; Kaye, Lives of Indian Officers (London, 1867) ; W. Sale, Defence of Jellalabad (London, 1846) ; Regimental History of the i3th Light Infantry.