Sir Arthur Halkett
(1834-1904)
10 June 1861

Volume 4, page 53, sitting number 4281. 

Born on 1 May 1834, Peter Arthur Halkett was the son of John Halkett, later Sir John Halkett of Pitferanne, 7th Bt. His mother was Amelia Hood née Conway. He succeeded his father on 5 August 1847, becoming the 8th Baronet Halkett of Pitferrane. He was henceforth invariably known as Sir Arthur Halkett.

Following his education at Cheltenham College, in 1851 he enlisted in the Army as an Ensign in the 81st Regiment of Foot, later transferring to the 42nd Foot. He saw action during the Crimean War and in 1855 was promoted to the rank of Captain. The following year he joined the 3rd King’s Own Light Dragoons. He was subsequently one of the originators of the Fife and Forfar Imperial Yeomanry, a mounted volunteer regiment in his home county. In addition, in 1868 he was appointed major in the Fife Artillery Militia. From 1873 to 1888 he was the unit’s commanding colonel and in 1895 he was appointed its honorary colonel.

On 6 May 1856 married his first cousin Eliza Anna Hill, daughter of Captain Richard Kirwan Hill and Jane Margaret née Halkett. Their marriage produced one son and three daughters.

Sir Peter Arthur Halkett died on 8 March 1904 at Pitferrane in Fife. According to one obituary, ‘On the outbreak of the Crimean war he sailed for Constantinople with the Black Watch, and served throughout that campaign, in which he achieved distinction, carrying the Queen’s colours up the heights of Alma, when Sir Colin Campbell’s horse was shot under him. The colours, which were carried by Sir Arthur, were perforated by bullets’ (Northern Whig, 9 March 1904).

His only son Captain Wedderburn Halkett served with the Cameroon Highlanders but had died in 1885 from fever contracted during Lord Wolseley’s Nile Expedition. At Sir Arthur’s death, therefore, his baronetcy became extinct.