[British military interest] A matched Continental and English silver gilt dessert service, French or French occupation and by The Goldsmiths & Silversmiths Co. Ltd, London 1912, engraved R beneath an earl's coronet, comprising: Twenty four dessert forks Twenty four dessert spoons Twenty four tea spoons A sugar sifting spoon A Dutch salt spoon, 3241g (104.2 oz); Together with the following with silver handles ad blades: Twenty four dessert knives; In a fitted mahogany canteen case by The Goldsmiths & Silversmiths Co. Ltd, with a brass plaque engraved for presentation to Earl Roberts on his 80th birthday, 1912 Field Marshal Frederick Sleigh Roberts, 1st Earl Roberts, VC, KG, KP, GCB, OM, GCSI, GCIE, KStJ, VD, PC, FRSGS (1832-1914) was a 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 won a 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 to success in the Second Boer War. He also became the last Commander-in-Chief of the Forces before the post was abolished in 1904. A man of small stature, Roberts was affectionately known to his troops and the wider British public as 'Bobs' and revered as one of Britain's leading military figures at a time when the British Empire reached the height of its power