Horatio Gordon Robley

Robley was born at Funchal, Madeira on 28 June 1840, the son of Captain John Horatio Robley and Augusta June Penfold. Robley followed in his father's footsteps and became a professional soldier. However he also inherited his mother's artistic skills and became an accomplished sketcher and watercolourist.

In 1858 Robley purchased an ensigncy in the 68th (The Durham) Regiment of Foot (Light Infantry) for £450. After a short period of training in Ireland he joined his regiment in Burma where he remained for nearly five years. There he observed the people and learned the language. In addition to his military duties Robley continued with his sketching and made visits into the countryside to document daily life. When sketching Buddhist temples he became friendly with several Buddhist monks and had an image of the Buddha tattooed in red on his right arm. This was the start of a lifelong interest in the practice of tattooing. The numerous sketches made during this period formed the basis for his illustrations some years later, when he was asked by the firm Cassells & Co. to contribute to their publication, Races of Mankind.

In 1860 Robley was sent home to England for a period of sick leave. He began to specialise in rifle shooting, applying for and being granted a term in the School of Musketry. Rejoining his regiment he was present at the siege of Delhi (1857); afterwards, at Rangoon, he assumed command of the guard of the exiled Mughal Bahadur Shah II.

In 1870 Robley purchased a captaincy for £1,100, and on 4 February 1871 transferred to the 91st (Princess Louise's Argyllshire Highlanders) Regiment. He remained on Home Service until 1880, when he was promoted to major and dispatched to Mauritius. Later he was sent to South Africa and saw service in Cape Colony, Natal and Zululand. He then went to Ceylon where, in 1882, he was promoted to Lieutenant-Colonel and assumed command of the regiment. He wrote his regiment's history. In 1887 he retired from the Army with the rank of Major-General and returned to live in London.

Continuing with writing after his retirement, he returned to his interest in tattoos and wrote two books relating to his time in New Zealand, Moko or Maori Tattooing in 1896 and Pounamu: Notes on New Zealand Greenstone. In the first book, as well as demonstrating and explaining the art of Māori tattooing, he also wrote chapters on the dried tattooed heads or Mokomokai. Robley decided to acquire as many examples of Mokomokai as possible, and at length built up a unique collection of 35 heads. In 1908 he offered them to the New Zealand Government for £1,000; his offer, however, was refused. Later, with the exception of the five best examples which Robley retained, the collection was purchased by the American Museum of Natural History, New York, for the equivalent of £1,250.[4]

Robley also collected Māori antiquities.[5] Some of his collection was purchased by the collector William Ockelford Oldman whose collection was purchased by the New Zealand Government in 1948.

Robley maintained a lively correspondence with a number of New Zealanders and maintained close links with New Zealand House during his lifetime. He died in London on 29 October 1930.

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  Ensign Robley, 68th Regiment, 1860
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  "The King of Delhi". Bahadur Shah II in exile
  Artist: H G Robley
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  Pukehinahina / Gate Pā following the battle, 30 April 1864. Based on a sketch by H G Robley
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  Te Manawa, Arawa
  Artist: H G Robley
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  Te Kuha
  Artist: H G Robley
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  Tuterei Karewa, Ngāti Maru
  Artist: H G Robley

• Robley, Horatio Gordon; Aubin, A.J. (1883). History of the 1st Battalion Princess Louise's Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders. Cape Town: Murray & St. Leger, Printers.
• Robley, Horatio Gordon (1896). Moko; or Maori Tatooing. London: Chapman and Hall, Limited – via New Zealand Electronic Text Centre.
• Robley, Horatio Gordon (1915). Pounamu: Notes on New Zealand Greenstone. London: T. J. S. Guilford & Co. Ltd.

• Doherty, Seona (December 1998). "Horatio Gordon Robley and the "Mark of the Savage"". National Library of Australia News. IX (3): 3–6. Archived from the original on 5 February 2012.
• Major-General Horatio Gordon Robley 1966 Encyclopedia of New Zealand
• Robley Family Genealogy
• Digitized version of Robley – Soldier with a Pencil by L.W. Martin; New Zealand Electronic Text Centre; 2007; Wellington, New Zealand
• Robley: Te Ropere 1840 – 1930 by Timothy Walker; University of Auckland; 1985

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Horatio Gordon Robley.

• Works by or about Horatio Gordon Robley at Internet Archive
• Works associated with Horatio Gordon Robley in the collection of the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa including drawings, collection items and images
• Robley discussed in RNZ podcast Black Sheep. 29 October 2018