Major Charles George Arbuthnot
(1824-1899)
22 September 1861

Volume 5, page 84, sitting number 5840. 

Born on 19 May 1824, one of twins, Charles George Arbuthnot was the fourth son of Alexander Arbuthnot, Bishop of Killaloe in County Clare, Ireland. 

Following his education at Rugby, he attended the Royal Military Academy in Woolwich. He joined the Royal Artillery on 17 June 1843 as a Second Lieutenant. During the Crimean War he served as a Captain in the 10th Battalion of the Royal Artillery and was twice wounded, once severely. 

On 27 October 1868 he married Caroline Charlotte Clarke, daughter of Dr. William Clarke of Barbados. 

In 1868 he went to India, later taking part in the Second Anglo-Afghan War (1878-1880). 

On his return to England in 1880 he was appointed deputy adjutant-general of artillery. From September 1883 to April 1885 he was Inspector-General of Artillery in England, and for the succeeding eight months President of the Ordnance Committee. According to his entry in the Dictionary of National Biography ‘his firmness and justice made him a highly respected administrator.’

He returned to India 1886, serving first as Commander-in-Chief of the Bombay Army and then as Commander-in-Chief of the Madras Army, a position he held until 1891. In 1893 he was appointed Colonel Commandant, Royal Artillery. In May 1894 he received the Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath. 

Lieutenant-General Sir Charles George Arbuthnot, GCB, died, aged 74, on 14 April 1899 at 14 Dynevor Gardens, Richmond, Surrey. He left an estate valued at £14,967.

According to one obituary, he ‘long enjoyed the reputation of being one of the ablest artillery officers in the British army’ (Aberdeen Press and Journal, 19 April 1899).