Robert Keith Arbuthnot, Fourth Baronet

Rear-Admiral Sir Robert Keith Arbuthnot, 4th Baronet, K.C.B., M.V.O. (23 March, 1864 – 31 May, 1916) was an officer of the Royal Navy.

Early Life and Career

Arbuthnot was born on 23 March, 1864, the eldest son of Sir William Wedderburn Arbuthnot, third baronet (1831–1889) and major, 18th hussars, and his wife, Alice Margaret (d. 1889), fourth daughter of the Reverend Matthew Carrier Tompson, rural dean and vicar of Alderminster, Worcestershire. He entered the navy as a cadet in 1877 at the Royal Naval College, Dartmouth, and was promoted to Sub-Lieutenant in 1883, Lieutenant in 1885, and Commander in 1897. He succeeded his father as fourth baronet in 1889 and in 1897 married Lina (d. 1935), only daughter of Colonel A. C. Macleay, Seaforth Highlanders. They had one daughter.

Arbuthnot was in the Naval Intelligence Department (1897–8) and badly injured in a gun accident in November, 1901. Promoted to Captain in 1902, he served as Flag Captain (1903–4) to Admiral Sir John Fisher when the latter was Commander-in-Chief, Portsmouth. In 1910, when captain of the battleship Lord Nelson, certain of his injudicious remarks about the German menace appeared in the press and were the subject of a formal German protest. The First Sea Lord relieved him of his command only to appoint him promptly to the Admiralty submarine committee (March–December) and then Commodore of the Third Destroyer Flotilla, a position he held from 1910 to 1912. He was aide-de-camp to the king (1911–12) and was promoted to Rear-Admiral in July, 1912. In September, 1913 Arbuthnot became second in command in Vice-Admiral Warrender's Second Battle Squadron with his flag in the dreadnought Orion.

Arbuthnot had an awesome reputation as one of the great characters of the Royal Navy, feared by many if not most, but also given grudging admiration and respect. He is generally described as a martinet who insisted on following regulations to the letter without deviation and his harsh discipline on a few occasions got him in trouble with the Admiralty. His publication A Commander's Order Book for a Mediterranean Battleship (1900), over 300 pages in length, became notorious. Nevertheless officers with distinguished careers ahead of them, such as Ernle Chatfield and Andrew Cunningham, came to respect him and the former found him a good friend. Much of this respect was due to the fact that Arbuthnot would not ask anything of anyone that he was not prepared to do himself. He was probably best remembered for his passion—some would say obsession—with physical fitness, which many thought was carried to seemingly grotesque lengths. When commander in a cruiser on the South American station he had midshipmen as part of a seven-point daily exercise run over the mast-head while he timed them with a stop-watch. As commodore in the destroyer flotilla he required ships' companies to land under arms and cover 5 miles in a set period of time. He excelled in a variety of sports and was also a passionate devotee of motorcycling. In 1908 he became the first private owner to enter the Isle of Man Open Tourist Trophy ("TT"), coming in third place on a Triumph.¹ He asserted that only men with "guts", a quick eye and a clear mind could compete successfully in motorcycle trials² - he himself competed in hillclimbing.

First World War

On 16 December, 1914 Arbuthnot was in a position where initiative might have achieved important results; but his rigid adherence to discipline stifled his naturally aggressive instincts and a rare opportunity was lost. The Admiralty knew from intelligence that German battle cruisers would raid the north-east coast and they attempted to spring a trap with Admiral Beatty's battle cruisers and Rear-Admiral Goodenough's light-cruiser squadron supported by Warrender's dreadnought squadron. However, the Admiralty's intelligence was incomplete for they failed to realize that the high sea fleet would also be out in support and at one point the six dreadnoughts of Warrender and Arbuthnot were perilously close to fourteen dreadnoughts and eight pre-dreadnoughts. Fortunately, the Germans in the squally weather and poor visibility turned away after clashing with Warrender's advance screen of destroyers, convinced that this was the entire Grand Fleet. Warrender's squadron might have intercepted one group of German light cruisers and destroyers returning from the raid. Arbuthnot reported them in sight but, despite the entreaties of his flag captain Frederic Dreyer, who had trained their turrets on the leading German cruiser, refused to open fire until he had received orders from Warrender to do so. Warrender, however, merely reported the sighting and sent three armoured cruisers in pursuit. The Germans escaped and Dreyer believed from his subsequent silence over the incident that Arbuthnot regretted his rigid adherence to orders.

In January 1915 Arbuthnot received command of the First Cruiser Squadron, four large but now obsolete armoured cruisers. After several months Jellicoe noted that there was trouble in the squadron, probably caused by Arbuthnot's excessively high ideals, but still expected he would be invaluable in any action and had the highest opinion of him. At the Battle of Jutland on 31 May, 1916 Arbuthnot, flying his flag in Defence, showed that this time he was not lacking in initiative, but his judgement was questionable and the results were tragic. Arbuthnot's squadron had been screening the starboard half of the Grand Fleet's front and, while the fleet was deploying and Beatty's battle cruisers and the Fifth Battle Squadron were in the process of rejoining Jellicoe after their initial engagement with the German battle cruisers, Arbuthnot moved out into the space between the major fleets with three cruisers to engage the advancing German light cruisers. Unfortunately he came into close contact with the German battle cruisers and dreadnoughts, who poured a devastating fire into his cruisers. Defence blew up and sank with all hands, Warrior survived badly damaged but later sank while under tow. Exactly what Arbuthnot had been trying to accomplish has been a matter of debate ever since. Much has been made of an earlier conversation with Chatfield (then captain of the Lion) in which Arbuthnot declared his intention in battle of taking up his assigned position at the rear of the battle fleet by proceeding down the engaged rather than disengaged side, but Jellicoe's deployment to port would have eliminated the need to do this since Arbuthnot's squadron would have been close to its assigned position. He may have thought that his duty was to assist Beatty although he actually disturbed the latter's movements by interrupting his fire and causing a near collision with the Lion. He was apparently concentrating his fire on the crippled light cruiser Wiesbaden when the heavy German ships appeared. Arbuthnot's end was spectacular and, while none can deny his great gallantry, the sacrifice of his life and over a thousand of his men was unnecessary. He was posthumously made K.C.B. in the Jutland honours.

Notes

1. Woolett. Norton, p. 54.

2. Anon. "Correspondence". The Naval Review XIV (No. 1): p. 208.

Bibliography

• Anon (February 1926). "Correspondence". The Naval Review XIV (No. 1): pp. 208–209.
• Woolett, Mick (2004). Norton: The Complete Illustrated History. London: MotorBooks/MBI Publishing Company. ISBN 0760319847.