A signed portrait photograph of Field-Marshal Lord Roberts

London, 1900. London, [later 1900s]. A gelatin silver photograph (image size 225 × 144 mm) of the 1906 portrait of Lord Roberts by John Singer Sargent, laid down on the printed card mount of 'Emery Walker Ph. Sc.', behind glass in a contemporary painted wooden frame (external dimensions 370 × 261 mm). The mount is lightly foxed and mottled; the frame is a little rubbed and scuffed; the photograph is in fine condition. Field-Marshal Lord Roberts has signed the bottom margin of the mount in pencil ('Roberts, F.M.' ). 'Field Marshal Frederick Sleigh Roberts, 1st Earl Roberts, VC, KG, KP, GCB, OM, GCSI, GCIE, VD, PC, FRSGS (30 September 1832 - 14 November 1914) was a British Victorian era general who became one of the most successful British military commanders of his time. Born in India to an Anglo-Irish family, Roberts joined the East India Company Army and served as a young officer in the Indian Rebellion during which he was awarded the Victoria Cross for gallantry. He was then transferred to the British Army and fought in the Expedition to Abyssinia and the Second Anglo-Afghan War, in which his exploits earned him widespread fame. Roberts would go on to serve as the Commander-in-Chief, India before leading British Forces for a year during the Second Boer War. He also became the last Commander-in-Chief of the Forces before the post was abolished in 1904' (Wikipedia). In the decade prior to the outbreak of the First world War Lord Roberts had been a prominent advocate for compulsory military service in the United Kingdom, serving as president and spokesman of the National Service League from 1905. He would not live to see the introduction of compulsory military service in 1916. At the age of 82 he died of pneumonia after visiting Indian troops at St Omer on the Western Front, in his capacity as Colonel-in-Chief of Overseas and Indian Forces.