Major John Bernard Arbuthnot, MVO (17 May 1875, in London – 16 September 1950) was a British soldier, banker, and journalist.
Arbuthnot was the son of Colonel George Arbuthnot and wife Caroline Emma Nepean Aitchison.
He was commissioned a second lieutenant in the Scots Guards on 18 July 1896, and promoted to the rank of lieutenant on 22 September 1898. Following the outbreak of the Second Boer War in late 1899, he was with the 2nd Battalion of his regiment as it left Southampton for South Africa on the SS Britannic in March 1900.[1] On arrival, the battalion was attached to the 16th Infantry Brigade serving as part of the 8th Division under Sir Leslie Rundle. He fought with the 2nd battalion until the end of the war in May 1902.[2] After his return to the United Kingdom, he was on 15 August 1902 appointed Aide-de-CamptoSir Henry Arthur Blake, Governor of Hong Kong.[3][4][5] Before departure for Hong Kong, he took part in the Coronation of King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra, and for this service was invested as a Member (fifth class) of the Royal Victorian Order (MVO) two days after the ceremony, on 11 August 1902.[6][7] He was promoted to captain on 17 December 1902.[8] He later served in the First World War, where he was mentioned in despatches, and reached the rank of major.
He was also a merchant banker.[9]
As a journalist on the Daily Express, in 1917 he founded and was author to its By the Way column, writing it pseudonymously as 'Beachcomber', before he was promoted to deputy editor and passed the role to D. B. Wyndham-Lewis in 1919.[10]
InHong Kong on 8 June 1903 he married Olive Blake (5 November 1875 - 12 September 1953), daughter of the Governor, Sir Henry Arthur Blake, and wife Edith Bernal Osborne. They had six children:[11][12]
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