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 ["Chip: An Equestrian Miracle V, 519. Aug. 14, 1852] 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.

Author: Anne Lohrli; © University of Toronto Press, 1971. 

Oxford Dictionary of National Biography