Researching Robert Ross

Ross joined the British Army in 1789. He served as an officer in several battles during the Napoleonic Wars, including the Battles of Maida and Corunna, gaining promotion to Colonel. In 1809, he was sent to serve in the Peninsular War, including the Battles of Vittoria, Roncesvalles, Sorauren, and Orthez. He was wounded in the neck at the Battle of Orthez in France on 27 February 1814.

Upon returning to duty later that year, Ross was made a major general and sent to North America, as commander of "all British forces on the East Coast". In August 1814, he reached Benedict, Maryland and continued on, leading the professional soldiers who quickly defeated a poorly organized American militia at the Battle of Bladensburg on 24 August; that evening, he led his troops into Washington D.C..

During his command of the Burning of Washington many important U.S. Government buildings, including the White House and the Capitol were damaged, demoralizing and greatly damaging the American war effort. Ross then led a British invasion north up the Chesapeake Bay towards the city of Baltimore which culminated in the Battle of Baltimore that September. On 12 September, he was shot while commanding troops at North Point, and died while being moved to the rear.

Ross died in June 2006 aged 86, following complications of surgery to repair a broken hip.

He was born at St Vincent in the West Indies, son of John Pemberton Ross, Speaker of the House of Assembly at St Vincent, and his wife, the only daughter of Dr Alexander Anderson. He was educated in England, joined the British Army in 1855, and commissioned in 1856.

Ross was appointed to South Australia in 1862 as head of the Commissariat Department and was briefly aide-de-camp to Governor Daly. On 10 August 1865 in Adelaide he married Mary Anstice (d.1867), daughter of John Baker, and bought Highercombe at Gumeracha. In 1869 he went to England, and in 1870 to Ireland, but a little later he resigned his commission to return to Australia.

In 1875 after being defeated for Gumeracha, Ross entered the House of Assembly for Wallaroo and from June 1876 to October 1877 was Treasurer of South Australia in the Colton ministry. In 1881-87 he was Speaker of the South Australian House of Assembly. He represented Gumeracha in 1884-87 and was knighted in 1886.

;Summary of activities and appointments:*Actively supported scheme to lay a cable from England to Australia*Actively supported scheme to build a transcontinental railway from Adelaide to Darwin.*In 1879 told a commission on liquor laws that wine would become a most important industry of the colony.*Carried out experiments at Highercombe in growing olives and vines, in cider making and in fruit drying.*President of the Royal Agricultural and Horticultural Society of South Australia; he gave papers on agriculture, scrub land cultivation and wine and brandy.*Governor of the Collegiate School of St Peter, Adelaide.*Member of the Council of the University of Adelaide.*Chairman of the Adelaide Steamship Company.*Member of the Royal Agricultural and Horticultural Society and its president from 1880 to 1885.*Promoter and guarantor of the 1887 Adelaide Jubilee International Exhibition.

Ross died in hospital at North Adelaide on 27 December 1887 and was buried, after a state funeral, in St George's cemetery, Woodforde.

Ross' militant journalism and agitation against Australia's involvement in World War I led to repression by the authorities. Ross' works during the war were censored and confiscated by the police and Ross faced multiple arrests for opposing conscription, waving the socialists' red flag, and circulating anti-war literature. His publication of the article "Bolshevism Has Broken Out in Heaven" led to a 1919 trial for blasphemy.

Ross' political views were drastically moderated during the 1920s. His contributions to Australian political life ended with his death as a respected member of the Australian Labor Party in 1931.