Sir Robert Arbuthnot, 4th Baronet
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Rear Admiral Sir Robert Keith Arbuthnot, 4th Baronet, KCB, MVO (23 March 1864 – 31 May 1916) was a British Royal Navy officer during World War I.
Born in Alderminster to Major Sir William Arbuthnot, 3rd Baronet and Alice Margaret Tompson, he succeeded to his father's baronetcy on 5 June 1889. On 9 November 1901, he was severely wounded when a 12-inch gun, which was being prepared to celebrate the King's birthday, exploded on board HMS Royal Sovereign, killing six men. In 1904, he became a Member of the Royal Victorian Order (MVO).
In January 1910, Arbuthnot made a speech at the Auto-Cycle Union, which was at the time considered very incautious. He spoke boldly of the German menace and insisted that urgent preparations against it were essential. He said that ever since the German Emperor came to the throne, he had been preparing for the invasion of the country. A General election was in progress and he urged that "to prevent that, the first thing to do was to keep the Liberals out of power". The German government made a formal protest and Arbuthnot was deprived of his ship and placed on half-pay. Shortly thereafter, he was promoted to Commodore and given command of the Destroyer Flotilla at Harwich.
Arbuthnot was aide-de-camp to King George V from 1911 to 1912. Meanwhile made a Rear-Admiral, he was killed at the Battle of Jutland in the North Sea in command of the First Cruiser Squadron and of the obsolete armoured cruiser HMS Defence. He had been attracted by the drifting, crippled SMS Wiesbaden. Unfortunately, in closing for the kill Defence presented a target for the combined firepower of the High Seas Fleet, and was destroyed in a spectacular explosion. She went down with all hands. A memorial plaque was erected to him in St. Giles' Cathedral, Edinburgh.[1] and posthoumesly he was made a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath, having been made a Companion already in 1916.
Arbuthnot had been a rugby three-quarter-back who captained the United Service team and played for Hampshire. He was a boxing champion and enthusiastic member of the Motor Cycling Club; an annual rally in the Isle of Man and a TT trophy for service members are named after him. There is also a hamlet and post office named after him in Saskatchewan.
He was married on 11 December 1897, to Lina MacLeay (1868–1935), daughter of Colonel Alexander Caldcleugh MacLeay. They had one daughter.
[edit] Notes
- ^ The Scotsman 23 July 1917
[edit] References
- Mrs P S-M Arbuthnot (1920). Memories of the Arbuthnots. George Allen & Unwin Ltd.
- thePeerage. Retrieved on December 10, 2006.
[edit] External links
| Baronetage of the United Kingdom | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by William Wedderburn Arbuthnot |
Baronet (of Edinburgh) 1889–1916 |
Succeeded by Dalrymple Arbuthnot |
