After a very brief interval as Governor of Natal and Governor and Commander-in-Chief of the Transvaal Province and High Commissioner for South Eastern Africa with effect from 7 March 1881, Roberts (having become a baronet on 11 June 1881) was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Madras Army on 16 November 1881. Promoted to the substantive rank of lieutenant general on 26 July 1883, he became Commander-in-Chief, India on 28 November 1885 and was advanced to Knight Commander of the Order of the Indian Empire (KCIE) on 15 February 1887 and to Knight Grand Commander of the Order of the Indian Empire (GCIE) on reorganisation of the Order on 21 June 1887. This was followed by his promotion to a supernumerary general on 28 November 1890 and to the substantive rank of general on 31 December 1891. On 23 February 1892 he was created Baron Roberts, of Kandahar in Afghanistan and of the City of Waterford.