Major John Bernard Arbuthnot, MVO (17 May 1875 – 16 September 1950) was a British soldier, banker, and journalist.

Early life

Arbuthnot was born on 17 May 1875 in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. He was the eldest son of Col. George Arbuthnot and Caroline Emma Nepean Aitchison. His father was an MP for

Hereford Hereford ( ) is a cathedral city and the county town of the ceremonial county of Herefordshire, England. It is on the banks of the River Wye and lies east of the border with Wales, north-west of Gloucester and south-west of Worcester. With ...

. Among his siblings were Dorothy Gertrude Arbuthnot, who married Brig.-Gen. Hugh Frederick Bateman-Champain. His paternal grandparents were John Alves Arbuthnot of Coworth Park,

Old Windsor Old Windsor is a village and civil parish, in the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead, in Berkshire, England. It is bounded by the River Thames to the east and the Windsor Great Park to the west. Etymology The name originates from old Eng ...

Sunningdale Sunningdale is a village and a civil parish in the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead. It takes up the extreme south-east corner of Berkshire, England and is adjoined by green buffers including Sunningdale Golf Club and Wentworth Golf ...

, Berkshire, and, his cousin, Mary Arbuthnot.Charles Mosley, editor, ''Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage, 107th edition, 3 volumes'' (Wilmington, Delaware, U.S.A.: Burke's Peerage (Genealogical Books) Ltd, 2003), volume 1, pages 120 and 121. His maternal grandparents were Frances Matilda Farish (a daughter of James Farish, one-time acting

Governor of Bombay Until the 18th century, Bombay consisted of seven islands separated by shallow sea. These seven islands were part of a larger archipelago in the Arabian sea, off the western coast of India. The date of city's founding is unclear—historians tr ...

) and Capt. Andrew Nepean Aitchison of the East India Company Service.

Career

He was commissioned a second lieutenant in the

Scots Guards The Scots Guards (SG) is one of the five Foot guards#United Kingdom, Foot Guards regiments of the British Army. Its origins are as the personal bodyguard of King Charles I of England and Scotland. Its lineage can be traced back to 1642 in the Ki ...

on 18 July 1896, and promoted to the rank of

lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a Junior officer, junior commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations, as well as fire services, emergency medical services, Security agency, security services ...

on 22 September 1898. Following the outbreak of the

Second Boer War The Second Boer War (, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, Transvaal War, Anglo–Boer War, or South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer republics (the South African Republic and ...

in late 1899, he was with the 2nd Battalion of his regiment as it left

Southampton Southampton is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. It is located approximately southwest of London, west of Portsmouth, and southeast of Salisbury. Southampton had a population of 253, ...

for

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

on the SS ''Britannic'' in March 1900. On arrival, the battalion was attached to the 16th Infantry Brigade serving as part of the 8th Division under Sir

Leslie Rundle General (United Kingdom), General Sir Henry Macleod Leslie Rundle, (6 January 1856 – 19 November 1934) was a British Army general during the Second Boer War and the First World War. Early life Rundle was born on 6 January 1856 in Newton Abbot ...

. He fought with the 2nd battalion until the end of the war in May 1902. After his return to the United Kingdom, he was on 15 August 1902 appointed Aide-de-Camp to Sir Henry Arthur Blake,

Governor of Hong Kong The governor of Hong Kong was the representative of the United Kingdom, British The Crown, Crown in British Hong Kong, Hong Kong from 1843 to 1997. In this capacity, the governor was president of the Executive Council of Hong Kong, Executiv ...

. Before departure for

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

, he took part in the

Coronation of King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra The coronation of the British monarch, coronation of Edward VII and his wife, Alexandra of Denmark, Alexandra, as King of the United Kingdom, king and List of British royal consorts, queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, ...

, and for this service was invested as a Member (fifth class) of the

Royal Victorian Order The Royal Victorian Order () is a dynastic order of knighthood established in 1896 by Queen Victoria. It recognises distinguished personal service to the monarch, members of the royal family, or to any viceroy or senior representative of the m ...

(MVO) two days after the ceremony, on 11 August 1902. He was promoted to

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

on 17 December 1902. He later served in the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, where he was mentioned in despatches, and reached the rank of

major Major most commonly refers to: * Major (rank), a military rank * Academic major, an academic discipline to which an undergraduate student formally commits * People named Major, including given names, surnames, nicknames * Major and minor in musi ...

. He was also a

merchant banker A merchant bank is historically a bank dealing in commercial loans and investment. In modern British usage, it is the same as an investment bank. Merchant banks were the first modern banks and evolved from medieval merchants who traded in commod ...

.Charles Mosley, editor, ''Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage, 107th edition, 3 volumes'' (Wilmington, Delaware, U.S.A.: Burke's Peerage (Genealogical Books) Ltd, 2003), volume 1, page 120. As a journalist on the ''

Daily Express The ''Daily Express'' is a national daily United Kingdom middle-market newspaper printed in Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid format. Published in London, it is the flagship of Express Newspapers, owned by publisher Reach plc. It was first ...

'', in 1917 he founded and was author to its ''By the Way'' column, writing it pseudonymously as ' Beachcomber', before he was promoted to deputy editor and passed the role to D. B. Wyndham-Lewis in 1919.

Personal life

On 8 June 1903, he married Olive Blake (1875–1953) in

. Olive was the only daughter of the Sir

Henry Arthur Blake Sir Henry Arthur Blake ( zh, c=卜力, sl=Buk1 Lik6; 8January 184023February 1918) was an Irish-born British colonial administrator who held the governorships of six British colonies over the course of his career. Early life, family and caree ...

, and wife Edith Bernal Osborne. They had six children:Arbuthnot: Mrs. P. S-M. Arbuthnot, ''Memories of the Arbuthnots of Kincardineshire and Aberdeenshire'' (London, 1920), p. 311. * Irene Joan Grace Arbuthnot (1904–1997), an explorer and author known as Joan Arbuthnot, wrote the book ''More Profit Than Gold'', published in 1935. * David George Arbuthnot (1905–1985), who married Elisabeth Kemeys-Tynte, 10th Baroness Wharton, in 1933. After her death, he married Barbara Margherita ( Chiappini) Douglas-Hamilton, daughter of Francis Chiappini and widow of Percy Seymour Douglas-Hamilton, in 1946. *

Group Captain Group captain (Gp Capt or G/C) is a senior officer rank used by some air forces, with origins from the Royal Air Force. The rank is used by air forces of many Commonwealth of Nations, countries that have historical British influence. Group cap ...

Terence John Arbuthnot (1906–1995), who married Karin Gunborg Sundgren, daughter of Carl Adolph Sundgren, in 1937. *

Commander Commander (commonly abbreviated as Cmdr.) is a common naval officer rank as well as a job title in many army, armies. Commander is also used as a rank or title in other formal organizations, including several police forces. In several countri ...

Bernard Kieran Charles Arbuthnot (1909–1975), who married Rosemary Harold Thompson, daughter of Lt.-Col. Harold Thompson, in 1939. *

Major Major most commonly refers to: * Major (rank), a military rank * Academic major, an academic discipline to which an undergraduate student formally commits * People named Major, including given names, surnames, nicknames * Major and minor in musi ...

Richard Henry Myles Arbuthnot (1911–1943), who was killed on active service in

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

; he married Marjorie Helen Miller, daughter of Ralph Miller, in 1939. * Patricia Evangeline Anne Arbuthnot (1914–1989), who married Arthur Cecil Byron, son of Cecil Byron, in 1933. They divorced in 1940, and she remarried to Francis Claud Cockburn of Brook Lodge in 1940. Arbuthnot died on 16 September 1950.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Arbuthnot, John Bernard 1875 births John Bernard Arbuthnot Scots Guards officers British Army personnel of World War I Members of the Royal Victorian Order 1950 deaths British Army personnel of the Second Boer War British expatriates in Hong Kong