From Private to Field-Marshal: The Autobiography of the First British Private Soldier to Rise to the Highest Rank - Hardcoverby William Robertson (Author) Scarlet coat to red tabs It is a common aspect of uncommon men that their lives are so exceptional that they cannot be adequately described in a few words. So much the better then that the author of this autobiography left posterity his remarkable life story. William 'Wully' Robertson was born in Lincolnshire in 1860 and became a servant in the household of the Earl of Cardigan. In 1877 he decided upon a military career