Robert Napier of Magdala, London

This statue on Kensington Road, Queen's Gate, staring out into the gloomy London January, is of Robert Napier, 1810 to 1890. The very model of a Victorian imperial officer, which his extraordinary career shows.

He was born in Sri Lanka, then Ceylon, son of a Major who died from wounds received in Java the year he was born. He was educated at Addiscombe Military Academy, and joined the Bengal Engineers at the age of 18.

He commanded the Bengal Engineers in the First Anglo-Sikh War and was wounded at the Battle of Ferozeshah on the last day of 1845.

He directed sieges in the Second Anglo-Sikh War in 1848-49, and was present at the surrender of the Sikh Army. He then became the Civil Engineer of the newly annexed province of the Punjab.

During the Indian Mutiny (or First Indian War of Independence), Napier was with Outram at the first relief of Lucknow, and took charge of Lucknow's defence until the second relief. He was badly wounded. He then pursued Indian forces in Gwalior.

In 1860 he commanded a division in the the storming of the Taku Forts in the Second Anglo-Chinese War.

However his greatest fame came when he led the expeditionary force to Abyssinia (now Ethiopia) in 1868. The Emperor Tewodros II had taken some Protestant missionaries and then two British diplomats hostage in his capital of Magdala.

Landing on the Red Sea, Napier constructed a port and advanced 400 miles into the Ethiopian Highlands. He was careful to make it clear that conquest was not his objective, but rescue of the hostages. He shrewdly spent large sums purchasing supplies from local lords on the way.

On Good Friday 1868 he defeated the 9,000 troops loyal to the Ethiopian Emperor with the loss of only 2 British soldiers, using his overwhelming firepower and technological superiority. After the battle Napier pressed on and captured the mountain fortress of Magdala, whereupon the Emperor committed suicide. The British troops took many artistic and historical pieces back to the UK. Napier was made Baron Napier of Magdala.

Although British firepower made the result of any pitched battle a foregone conclusion, the achievement of Napier was logistically brilliant. His background as an engineer shining though.

Napier later was Commander in Chief in India, Governor of Gibraltar and Constable of the Tower of London, passing away in 1890 as a Field Marshall with a state funeral and burial at St Paul's Cathedral.

The very model of a modern major general.........