Robert Phayre was born in Bombay in 1853. His parents were Lieut-General Sir Robert Phayre (1820-1897) and Diana Bunbery (nee Thompson 1821-1904).

He was educated at Rugby School and went straight into the Indian Civil Service in 1871.

He worked in Burma, where his uncle Lieut-General Sir Arthur Purves Phayre had been the first Commissioner of British Burma from 1862 to 1867.

In 1885 Robert married Edith Margary in Weston super Mare. They returned to Burma where their son was born in Government House, Rangoon, on 2nd January 1886.

Less than six months later Robert, then aged 34, was to die fighting insurgents in Upper Burma. An account of his death is given below.

Edith died in Ealing in June 1946 and was burried at Clannaborough. Their son Colonel Robert Bernard Phayre (d 1966) erected the window in 1958. His family lived at Collatons in Bow from about 1947, having bought it just before the war. The window includes the family's coat of arms and motto "Virtute tutus" - "By virtue safe"

As part of the annexation of Upper Burma, in November 1885, British forces put Robert Phayre of the Indian Civil Service and British Burma Commission as Deputy Commissioner in charge of the Minbu district with a small detachment of troops.

Mr. Phayre, a nephew of that distinguished man, Colonel Sir Arthur Phayre, the first Chief Commissioner of British Burma, was the right man for the work. Fluent in Burmese, he began by getting into touch with the native officials, and by the 15th of December all those on the right bank of the river had accepted service under the new Government. Outposts were established, and flying columns dispersed any gatherings of malcontents that were reported.

There were two men, however, who had not been or would not be propitiated, Maung Swe and U Ottama. Maung Swe was hereditary headman or Thugyi of Mindat, a village near the old frontier. He had for years been a trouble to the Thayetmyo district of British Burma, harbouring criminals and assisting dacoit gangs to attack our villages.

In May, 1886, Maung Swe was attacked and driven back towards the hills. He retired on Ngape, a strong position thirty miles west of Minbu and commanding the principal pass through the mountains into Arakan.

Mr Phayre issued a 5,000 rupee reward for the capture of Maung Shwe. Maung Shwe, in response to this, declared that anyone who captured Mr Phayre would be awarded 500 rupees.

Early in June, 1886, Mr. Phayre, with fifty sepoys of a Bengal infantry regiment and as many military police (Indians), started from Minbu to attack Maung Swe, who was at a place called Padein. The enemy were reinforced during the night by two or three hundred men from Ngape. The attack was delivered on the 9th of June, and Phayre, who was leading on horseback, was shot dead. His party had been surprised by the rebels. His men fell back, leaving his body, which was carried off by the Burmans.

His remains were later found by a search party. He had been decapitated and quartered, his head and quarters being found suspended from the branches of different trees – a gruesome spectacle which filled every European, military and civil, with horror.

Much sympathy was felt for Mrs Phayre at Minbu, where his remains were later buried.