Colonel Sir Robert Warburton (11 July 1842 – 22 April 1899) was an Anglo-Afghan soldier and administrator. Half-Afghan and proficient in Pashtu, he served for many years as British political officer in charge of the Khyber Pass, a region of strategic importance to British India. He helped maintain peace with the Afridis who rose in revolt eighteen years after his retirement. Life Warburton was born in a Ghilzai fort between Jagdallak and Mak on 11 July 1842, the only son of Lt. Col. Robert Warburton (died 10 November 1863), of the Royal Artillery, by Shah Jahan Begum, niece of the Amir Dost Mohammed of Afghanistan. At the time of his birth his mother was fleeing from the troopers of Sardar Muhammad Akbar Khan, who pursued her for months after the massacre of English at Kabul on 1 November 1841. She was sheltered by her relatives and finally rejoined her husband on 20 September 1842. At the close of the Afghan war, Robert and his mother accompanied his father's battery to Sipri, whence they removed to Morar in Gwalior. In 1850, he was placed at school at Mussoorie under Robert North Maddock, where he remained until 1 December 1856. He was then sent to England, and was placed at Kensington Grammar School under G. Frost. Thence he obtained a cadetship, and after one term at the Royal India Military College, Addiscombe, and two at the Royal Military Academy at Woolwich he obtained his commission in the royal regiment of artillery on 18 December 1861. In 1862, he was sent to India and stationed with the 1st battery of the 24th brigade at Fort Govindghar, the fortress of Amritsar. In August 1864, he exchanged into the F battery of the 18th brigade and was stationed at Mian Mir. In 1866, the failure of the Agra and Masterman's Bank left him with only his pay to support himself and his mother. To increase his resources he exchanged into the 21st Punjab infantry. This regiment was then under orders for the Abyssinian campaign, and disembarked at Zoula on 1 February 1868. While serving with the transport train he showed great tact in conciliating native feeling and received the thanks of Sir Robert Napier for his services. When he was invalided to England, Napier interested himself in his behalf, and wrote to the lieutenant-governor of the Punjab recommending him for employment on the frontier. On