Robert Arbuthnot (British Army officer)
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| Personal details | |
| Born | 19 November 1773 Lieutenant-General |
| Unit | 76th Regiment of Foot |
| Commands | General Officer Commanding, Ceylon |
He was awarded the
Biography
Arbuthnot was born at Rockfleet Castle, County Mayo, Ireland, the fourth son of agriculturist John Arbuthnot Senior of Rockfleet, Co Mayo. He was the brother of the Right Honourable Charles Arbuthnot, Bishop Alexander Arbuthnot and of Lieutenant-general Sir Thomas Arbuthnot.
He entered the army as a cornet in the
Besides the Battle of Ballinamuck, two at the Cape, and three in South America, Sir Robert was present at the
At Albuera he distinguished himself by galloping between two regiments, the British 57th and a Spanish regiment, and stopping the fire which by mistake they were exchanging – a feat which he performed without receiving a single wound. In the same battle, at a critical moment, he was enabled by his quickness of sight to discern a retrograde movement on the part of the French, which Marshal Beresford had not perceived, and induced the latter to recall an order which he had just given for the retirement of two batteries of artillery. At an earlier period, in South America, when he and General Beresford were prisoners in the hands of the Spanish, and when all the officers were about to be searched for papers, he contrived by a clever stratagem to secrete in an orchard an important document, viz. the convention which had been executed between General Beresford and the Spanish general Linieres, and of which the Spanish were anxious to regain possession.
Family
He married his first wife, Susan Vesey in Belfast on 1 February 1802 (who died in Teddington, Twickenham on 30 June 1822). Susan was the only child of Colonel William Vesey of Farm Hill. Sir Robert married second at St James's Church, Piccadilly, 4 January 1826, Harriet Smith (dsp 5 December 1861), daughter of and co-heir of Thomas Smith of Castleton Hall, Lancashire.
References
- ^ The Gentleman's Magazine. 1849.
- ^ A. J. Arbuthnot, "Arbuthnot, Sir Robert (1773–1853)", rev. James Lunt, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004. Retrieved 17 August 2009
- Arbuthnot, Mrs P S-M (1920). Memories of the Arbuthnots. George Allen & Unwin.
External links
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