Robert Biddulph (British Army officer)

Educated at Twyford School and the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, Biddulph was commissioned into the Royal Artillery in 1853.[1] He served in the Crimean War and was present at the Siege of Sevastopol in 1854.[1] He then served in the Indian Mutiny, and was Brigade Major during the Siege of Lucknow in 1857.[1]

In 1871 he was selected to be Assistant Adjutant-General at the War Office and then in 1879 he succeeded Sir Garnet Wolseley as High Commissioner and Commander-in-Chief of Cyprus.[1] In 1886, he returned to London to be Inspector-General of Recruiting and two years later became Director-General of Military Education.[1] In 1893 he was briefly Quartermaster-General to the Forces.[2] Later that year, he became Governor of Gibraltar, serving as such until 1900.[1] He was Colonel Commandant of the Royal Artillery, and was placed on retired pay on 26 August 1902.[3]

His final appointment, in 1904, was as Army Purchase Commissioner: in that capacity he abolished the purchase of commissions.[1]

He was appointed Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath in the 1899 Birthday Honours.[4] Biddulph's Gate in Famagusta in Cyprus is named after him.[5]

Biddulph was the son of Robert Biddulph, MP. In 1864 he married Sophia Lambert and together they went on to have four sons and six daughters.[6]