Career
Robert Bellew Adams, the son of an officer of the Corps of Guides regiment of the British Indian Army, entered the Army in 1876 as a sub-lieutenant in the 12th Foot (later the Suffolk Regiment). His promotion to Lieutenant in 1878 was backdated to 1876. He transferred to the Bengal Staff Corps in 1879, served with his father's regiment in the Second Anglo-Afghan War and was promoted to Captain in 1887. In 1891 he was appointed to command the cavalry of the Guides. He took part in the Chitral Expedition and afterwards was promoted to Major in 1896 and brevet Lieutenant Colonel "in recognition of his services during the operations of the Chitral Relief Force, 1895."
In 1897 the Guides took part in the Tirah Campaign, and the following event took place:
During the fighting at Nawa Kili, in Upper Swat, on the 17th August, 1897, Lieutenant-Colonel R.B. Adams proceeded with Lieutenants H.L.S. MacLean and Viscount Fincastle, and five men of the Guides, under a very heavy and close fire, to the rescue of Lieutenant R.T. Greaves, Lancashire Fusiliers, who was lying disabled by a bullet wound and surrounded by the enemy's swordsmen. In bringing him under cover he (Lieutenant Greaves) was struck by a bullet and killed — Lieutenant MacLean was mortally wounded — whilst the horses of Lieutenant-Colonel Adams and Lieutenant Viscount Fincastle were shot, as well as two troop horses.— London Gazette, 9 November 1897
Lieutenant Greaves was acting as war correspondent for The Times of India. Viscount Fincastle was also acting as a war correspondent, for The Times. A fuller account is given by Winston Churchill in The Story of the Malakand Field Force.
Adams and Fincastle were awarded the Victoria Cross. At that time the VC was not awarded posthumously, and the London Gazette noted "Lieutenant Hector Lachlan Stewart MacLean, Indian Staff Corps, on account of his gallant conduct as recorded above, would have been recommended to Her Majesty for the Victoria Cross had he survived." MacLean was awarded a posthumous VC in 1907 after the policy had been changed.
During the same campaign Adams was mentioned in despatches three times and awarded the CB. In 1899 he was appointed to the command of the Guides, and in 1904 he was given the command of the Umballa Cavalry Brigade. In 1906 he was promoted to major-general and transferred to the Derajat Brigade, but due to illness he resigned the command in 1908. He was invalided out of the army in 1911 and knighted KCB in the King's Birthday Honours of 1912.
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