Name
Ronald George Urquhart Arbuthnot
8/10/1891
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
03/12/1918
27
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Lieutenant
Royal Air Force
Secondary Unit, Regiment: 16th (The Queen's) Lancers
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
1914 /15 Star, British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
SHENLEY (ST. BOTOLPH) CHURCHYARD
In S.W. corner.
United Kingdom
UK & Other Memorials
St John the Baptist Church Memorial, Hillingdon, London, St Botolph's Church Memorial, Shenleybury (now lost) (*1), Summer Fields School Roll of Honour, Oxford, Roll of Honour, St Mary's Church, Norton, Gloucs, War Memorial, Norton, Gloucestershire
Pre War
Ronald George Urquhart Arbuthnot was born on 8 October 1891, the son and youngest child of George Arbuthnot and his wife Caroline. His father was a Colonel and had served with distinction in India. Later being elected as Conservative MP for Hereford serving as Justice of the Peace for Herefordshire and Gloucestershire.
Ronald was baptised on 14 November 1891 at St Paul, Wilton Place, Knightsbridge, London. His father's occupation was recorded as a Colonel in the Army and they were living at 5 Belgrave Place, Westminster.
On the 1901 Census Ronald was listed as a boarder at Summer Fields school for Gentlemen's sons, Summertown, Oxford. He later attended Eton College and was said to be a keen cross-country rider.
By 1911 he was recorded living with his parents and eight servants at Norton Court, near Gloucester. Probate recorded his residence as Cedar House, Hillingdon, Middlesex.
Wartime Service
At the outbreak of war he enlisted in the 19th Hussars, receiving a regular commission in the 16th Lancers in September 1914 and was listed as a 2nd Lieutenant from 1915. Later he volunteered for the Cavalry Machine Gun Corps and was seriously wounded at Bourlon Wood in late 1917.
Upon his return to England and recovery from his wounds, he was attached to the RAF. He was killed on 3 December 1918 when his plane stalled on a climbing turn and spun to earth near London Colney, Herts. He is buried in the Shenley (St Botolph) Churchyard, Herts.
Additional Information
*1 Believed named on the lost memorial.
His mother Caroline Emma Nepean Arbuthnot and Robert John Lacy Esq (executors) obtained probate of Ronald's estate in London on 3 February 1919 with effects of £4553 3s 1d. They received a war gratuity of £5 and pay owing of £6 12s 0d.
He has a private headstone in the churchyard, which bear the inscription:
RONALD GEORGE URQUHART ARBUTHNOT
LIEUT 16TH LANCERS ATTACHED RAF
FOUGHT THROUGH THE GREAT WAR
BORN OCT. 8TH 1891 KILLED FLYING DEC. 3RD 1918.
Acknowledgments
Brenda Palmer
Jonty Wild, www.rcawsey.co.uk,
