Gerald Archibald Arbuthnot (19 December 1872 – 25 September 1916) was a British soldier and

Conservative Party The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right. Political parties called The Conservative P ...

politician.

Early life

The son of

Major General Major general (abbreviated MG, maj. gen. and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. The disappearance of the "sergeant" in the title explains the apparent confusion of a ...

William Arbuthnot and Selina Moncreiffe, he was vice-chancellor of the

Primrose League The Primrose League was an organisation for spreading Conservative principles in Great Britain. It was founded in 1883. At a late point in its existence, its declared aims (published in the ''Primrose League Gazette'', vol. 83, no. 2, March/April ...

Political career

Arbuthnot was private secretary to the Board of Agriculture from 1895 to 1899, assistant private secretary to the

President of the Local Government Board The President of the Local Government Board was a ministerial post, frequently a Cabinet position, in the United Kingdom, established in 1871. The Local Government Board itself was established in 1871 and took over supervisory functions from the ...

in 1901 and 1902 and assistant private secretary to the

Chief Secretary for Ireland The Chief Secretary for Ireland was a key political office in the British administration in Ireland. Nominally subordinate to the Lord Lieutenant, and officially the "Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant", from the early 19th century un ...

in 1905 and 1906. Between January and December 1910, he was

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

(MP) for

Burnley Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2001 population of 73,021. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, at the confluence of the River Calder and River Bru ...

Military service

In the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, he served in the

Grenadier Guards "Shamed be whoever thinks ill of it." , colors = , colors_label = , march = Slow: " Scipio" , mascot = , equipment = , equipment ...

and reached the rank of

second lieutenant Second lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer military rank in many armed forces, comparable to NATO OF-1 rank. Australia The rank of second lieutenant existed in the military forces of the Australian colonies and Australian Army until ...

, having been made a

lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations. The meaning of lieutenant differs in different militaries (see comparative military ranks), but it is often sub ...

in the service of the

Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve Royal may refer to: People * Royal (name), a list of people with either the surname or given name * A member of a royal family Places United States * Royal, Arkansas, an unincorporated community * Royal, Illinois, a village * Royal, Iowa, a cit ...

already in 1914. He fought in the

Battle of Ypres The Battle of Ypres was a series of engagements during the First World War, near the Belgian city of Ypres, between the German and the Allied armies (Belgian, French, British Expeditionary Force and Canadian Expeditionary Force). During the five ...

. Arbuthnot died aged 43, killed in action during the

Battle of the Somme The Battle of the Somme ( French: Bataille de la Somme), also known as the Somme offensive, was a battle of the First World War fought by the armies of the British Empire and French Third Republic against the German Empire. It took place bet ...

. He was buried at Citadel New Military Cemetery,

Fricourt Fricourt () is a commune in the Somme department in Hauts-de-France in northern France. Geography Fricourt is situated on the D147 and D64 junction, some northeast of Amiens. History Fricourt is about a kilometre from Mametz. It was close to ...

. In November 2018, Arbuthnot's name was added to the

UK Parliament The Parliament of the United Kingdom is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of Westminster, London. It alone possesses legislative supremac ...

's World War One memorial, after a historian at the

History of Parliament Trust The History of Parliament is a project to write a complete history of the United Kingdom Parliament and its predecessors, the Parliament of Great Britain and the Parliament of England. The history will principally consist of a prosopography, in ...

noticed his name was missing.

Personal life

He married (Mary Johanna) Dulcie Antoinette Oppenheim, daughter of Charles Augustus Oppenheim, on 6 February 1894. They had three daughters, one of whom, Cynthia Isabelle Theresa, married rower and financier

Ian Fairbairn Stephen Ian Fairbairn (14 April 18965 December 1968) was a British financier and rower who competed in the 1924 Summer Olympics, and later rose to the position of chairman of the M&G fund management company. Personal life Fairbairn was the son ...

. One of Arbuthnot's descendants,

James Arbuthnot James Norwich Arbuthnot, Baron Arbuthnot of Edrom, (born 4 August 1952), is a British Conservative Party politician. He was Member of Parliament (MP) for Wanstead and Woodford from 1987 to 1997, and then MP for North East Hampshire from ...

, served as Member of Parliament for Wanstead and Woodford from 1987 to 1997, and for

North East Hampshire North East Hampshire is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament by Ranil Jayawardena, a Conservative who has served as Environment Secretary since 2022. History The constituency was created in 1997 from parts of t ...

from 1997 to 2015.

References

* *

External links

* *
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
* 1872 births 1916 deaths Burials in Hauts-de-France Gerald Archibald Arbuthnott Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies UK MPs 1910 Grenadier Guards officers Royal Navy officers of World War I Civil servants in the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food Civil servants in the Local Government Board Civil servants in Ireland (1801–1922) Private secretaries in the British Civil Service British Army personnel of World War I British military personnel killed in the Battle of the Somme Politics of Burnley Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve personnel of World War I {{England-Conservative-UK-MP-1870s-stub