Talk:Robert Arbuthnot (British Army officer)

Ceylonese appointment of this fellow?

The first British governor, Frederick North, 5th Earl of Guilford (1798-1805), proclaimed in 1801 that all rajakariya (royal service) was abolished and replaced it with a tax of one-fifth of their produce on low land and one-tenth on high land. North declared himself head of the Salagama caste and appointed Robert Arbuthnot head of the Karava caste. The Judicial Charter limited the governor’s autocracy by establishing the Supreme Court and High Court of Appeal. Kittybrewster ☎ 09:25, 6 August 2010 (UTC)

What is HW in this context?

Arbuthnot, Sir Robert l General Sir Robert Arbuthnot l, 1773~1853, military officer. Entered army in 1797 as cornet, 23rd Light Dragoons; captain, 20th Light Dra­goons; major-general, 1830; lieut.-general, 1841; colonel, 76th Foot, 1843. Served in Africa, in South America, on the Conti­nent in Peninsular War, in Ceylon, in India. "Few officers have taken part in so many general actions" (D.N.B.). Received numerous military decorations. K.C.B. 1815. The brief H.W. item by Arbuthnot was written, he stated, "at the request of a few frlends," to give the correct account of his feat of horsemanship at Land's End in 1804 – an episode recounted in the H.W. article "If This Should Meet His Eye," March 13, 1852, with the com­ment that the performer of the feat was "since dead." Arbuthnot's account was introduced by the editorial statement that General Sir Robert Arbuthnot was still alive and that the "distinguished gentleman" had "been good enough to give us his own version of his performance." The item is the only writing assigned to Arbuthnot in Biblio. Cornub.; D.N.B. records no writings by him. D.N.B.

Served as Colonel at Waterloo 18 June 1815?

and therefore surely awarded Waterloo medal. Kittybrewster ☎ 22:17, 11 August 2011 (UTC)

PS I found this quotation "The Colombo Observer says four, including among them Sir Robert Arbuthnot, but the General, though he had been through nearly every battle ia the Peninsular War, does not seem to have been at Waterloo". - Kittybrewster ☎ 06:28, 12 August 2011 (UTC

See reference desk. --Bill Reid | (talk) 16:38, 12 August 2011 (UTC)

I've had a skim through several of my Napoleonic book indexes and his name never came up, not even in Wellington's own Dispatches, which were extensive- you'd think anyone who did all that fighting would get an honourable mention at least once. I note the article doesn't have too many common references or citations though, so not much to go on, really. Can't find any other Colonel Robert either. That's not to say it's not true what he did, just that no historian has thought to write about him - which is a shame, as it might make his military career appear more notable and help strengthen the article's referencing. Ma®©usBritish ^[talk] 21:21, 14 August 2011 (UTC)

There has been historical coverage; the article as it stands is pretty much a direct copy of A.J. Arbuthnot's 1885 entry in the Dictionary of National Biography, which was itself only lightly cited. (Interestingly, though, it does cite Wellington's Despatches...). Shimgray | talk | 22:32, 14 August 2011 (UTC)

Hmm, odd.. perhaps he just missed his name when producing the Index, which is an entire volume (XIII) in itself, and of course no computers back then to tag things for indexing. Do you have any volume and/or page number from his citation - as there are 12 rather large dispatch volumes, I wouldn't even know where to begin finding one name that was in every battle. Ma®©usBritish ^[talk] 22:50, 14 August 2011 (UTC)

Sadly not; the DNB (and the newer ODNB) just give lists of works used, nothing more detailed (they occasionally give volume numbers, but not here). The reference in the ODNB is "Selections from the dispatches and general orders of Field Marshall the duke of Wellington, ed. J. Gurwood, new edn (1851)". Shimgray | talk | 22:56, 14 August 2011 (UTC)

http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Arbuthnot,_Robert_%28DNB00%29 That's all I've found online so far, seems to be identical to the article, more or less. Looking into the Despatches now, though.. not sure if I'll find anything. Ma®©usBritish ^[talk] 23:02, 14 August 2011 (UTC)

Mentioned here: [1] (see footnote p. 222) and bottom right here: [2] Ma®©usBritish ^[talk] 23:07, 14 August 2011 (UTC)

So he was knighted 4 December 1815. Kittybrewster ☎ 11:12, 15 August 2011 (UTC)

FWIW, I did a bit of digging when I saw this question on the RD, and it seems that he was reported as having been at Waterloo in a few biographical sources in the early 19th century, but by later editions in the mid-1840s this had quietly been corrected. I guess it was an error that persisted long enough for a reference to it to survive now, hence the initial question. Shimgray | talk | 23:09, 14 August 2011 (UTC)

[3] - mentioned by Wellington for promotion here. Ma®©usBritish ^[talk] 23:11, 14 August 2011 (UTC)

Recommended for colonelcy in Portugal by Wellington March 1811. Kittybrewster ☎ 13:15, 15 August 2011 (UTC)

[4] Item 4. claims he was at Wateroo, if thats what you need? Ma®©usBritish ^[talk] 23:15, 14 August 2011 (UTC)

According to Charles Dalton's WATERLOO ROLL CALL With Biographical Notes and Anecdotes Robert Arbuthnot was not among the officers at Waterloo. There were two Sir Robert entries:

1. Lieut-Col. Sir Robert Macara, K.C.B. 42ND (OR THE ROYAL HIGHLAND) REGIMENT OF FOOT.
2. Lieut.-Col. Sir Robert Gardiner, BRITISH HORSE ARTILLERY

There were no colonels named Robert without the Sir. --Bill Reid | (talk) 14:07, 12 August 2011 (UTC)

He was a Colonel at the time of Waterloo, but not yet knighted. Kittybrewster ☎ 12:49, 15 August 2011 (UTC)

Thank you. How does the entry come to be: Corporal Timothy Greenhalgh, 2nd Bn Coldstream Guards, served in Colonel Robert Arbuthnot's company at Waterloo.? - Kittybrewster ☎ 07:05, 13 August 2011 (UTC)

Sorry, don't know. I tried a search at the National Archive for Timothy Greenhalgh but search didn't have any hits. I have a list of the company commanders at Waterloo but no Robert Arbuthnot although he was assigned a company on 25 July 1814. Illness or injury may have prevented his attendance. --Bill Reid | (talk) 15:35, 13 August 2011 (UTC)

Depends on where that entry comes from, of course, and at this remove it may well be in error... interestingly, his entry in Hart's Army List for 1840 says he was at Waterloo, here, and again in 1841. Note, however, that while it says this in the descriptive text, his entry in the main list only has the "Peninsular" mark against it, not the Waterloo mark. A few years later, however, his entry explicitly did not mention Waterloo in the description (1845, 1846.) So it seems to have been a misconception that circulated in reference works for a while, at least. Shimgray | talk | 21:58, 13 August 2011 (UTC)

• Summarising the above, it seems fairly likely that he wasn't at Waterloo (he's not in the Waterloo-specific reference sources, and the claim's not in more recent biographical works), but that for some years during his later life it was believed he had been. Why that is the case is an open question - perhaps he himself liked to give that impression! - but we've no way of saying. Shimgray | talk | 12:31, 15 August 2011 (UTC)

Thank you. I suspect you are right. I suppose AJ Arbuthnot who wrote the DNB entry is Ada Jane Arbuthnot, wife of P S-M Arbuthnot and author of Memories of the Arbuthnots. I wonder if we can find out where he was. Was he still off games because of illness? Kittybrewster ☎ 12:52, 15 August 2011 (UTC)