Keith Arbuthnott, 15th Viscount of Arbuthnott


Robert Keith Arbuthnott, 15th Viscount of Arbuthnott, was a senior British Army officer who served in both the First World War and the Second World War.

Military career

He was educated at Fettes College and the Royal Military College, Sandhurst. He was commissioned as a second lieutenant into the Black Watch on 14 July 1915 and was mentioned in dispatches during the First World War. After service in Palestine, he became an instructor at the Staff College in 1938 and then became a staff officer at Scottish Command in August 1941 during the Second World War. He then became commander of the 198th Brigade in May 1943, commander of the 11th Infantry Brigade in the Italian Campaign in September 1943 and then General Officer Commanding 78th Infantry Division in the Italian Campaign in November 1944.
After the war, he became Chief of the British Military Mission to the Egyptian Army in 1946, Chief of staff of Scottish Command in 1948 and General Officer Commanding 51st Infantry Division and the Highland District of the Territorial Army in 1949 before retiring from the British Army in 1952 as a major general.
In retirement he was honorary colonel of the Black Watch. He served as Deputy Lieutenant, Kincardineshire in 1959 and then as Lord Lieutenant of Kincardineshire from 1960 to 1966.

Decorations

Lord Arbuthnott married, 10 January 1924, Ursula Collingwood, daughter of Sir William Collingwood, KBE of Dedham Grove, Colchester, Essex. They had three sons and one daughter.

Footnotes