LORD ROBERTS’ SWORD.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 28 February 1925, Page 7

LORD ROBERTS’ SWORD.

ALLEGED THEFT' BY BURGLAR. FAMOUS MARCH (RECALLED. LONDON, Jan. 22. Arthur Wilkinson, alias Richard Wallace, has been committed for trial on a charge of having committed burglary at the home of Countess Roberts, at Ascot. It was alleged that among the articles stolen was the sword of honour presented to Lord Roberts after his famous march from Kabul to' Kandahar. Wilkinson was released from prisorf last March after serving a sentence for burglary. He posed as a man of independent means, and stayed at fashionable West End hotels. He had a houseboat on the Thames, and on one occasion he entertained a number of actresses and members of the police force. Tt is alleged that while the party was in nrogrpss he stole away and robbed a neighbouring house. /

The famous march to Kandahar was one of the outstanding features of the Afghan War.. On. July 22, 1880, news arrived at Kabul that n British brigade had been totally defeated at Mai wand on June 27, and that Lient.-Genera! Primrose was besieged in Kandahar. Roberts was instructed to proceed thither at once with a specially selected column of 10,000 troops and a new body of transport forces. He started fm August 9, And arrived at Kandahar oit the morning of August- 31, having covered 313 miles in 22 days. On the following day he fought the- battle of Kandahar, and gained a complete victory. Lord Roberts djed in 1914.