Arthur Lynden-Bell

Major-General Sir Arthur Lynden Lynden-Bell, KCB KCMG DL JP (2 January 1867 – 14 February 1943) was a British Army officer.

Sir Arthur Lynden-Bell
Born2 January 1867[1]
Carlisle, Cumberland, England
Died14 February 1943(1943-02-14) (aged 76)
Platt, Kent, England
Service/branch British Army
Years of service1885-1924
RankMajor-General
Battles/warsSecond Boer War
First World War
AwardsKnight Commander of the Order of the Bath
Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George
Mentioned in Dispatches

Early life

Lynden-Bell was the son of Major-General Thomas Lynden Lynden-Bell and younger brother of Colonel Charles Perceval Lynden-Bell.[2] He was educated at Clifton College."Clifton College Register" Muirhead, J.A.O. p88: Bristol; J.W Arrowsmith for Old Cliftonian Society; April, 1948

Military career

He attended the Royal Military College, Sandhurst and commissioned as a Lieutenant into the Buffs (Royal East Kent Regiment) in May 1885.[3] After promotion to Captain on 31 January 1894, he served the following year on the North West Frontier of British India and attended the Staff College, Camberley in 1898.[3] A year later, he saw active service in the Second Boer War, commanding a mounted infantry contingent of the Buffs.[3]

In 1900, he became a Staff Captain for intelligence in the War Office and a year later was made Deputy-Assistant Quartermaster-General for intelligence at the War Office on 20 July 1901.[4][3] He was promoted to Major on 3 May 1902,[5] and appointed a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George (CMG) in 1905. In 1907, Lynden-Bell became General Staff Officer Southern Command and in 1911, he became General Staff Officer Lowland Division.[3]

At the start of the World War I Lynden-Bell was Assistant Quartermaster-General of the British Expeditionary Force.[6][7] In 1915 he served as Chief of General Staff of the Mediterranean and Egypt Expeditionary Force, and saw service in the Gallipoli Campaign, being Mentioned in Dispatches.[8][9] In 1916-1917 he was the Chief-of-Staff of the Egyptian Expeditionary Force under General Sir Archibald Murray, but was removed from the post and returned home in mid-1917 soon after the arrival of Edmund Allenby in Cairo to replace Murray.[10]

Lynden-Bell was appointed a Commander of the Legion of Honour in 1917.[11] In 1918 he was Director of Staff Duties at the War Office.[3]

He retired from the regular army in 1924, and in 1928 became Colonel of the Buffs, serving in the position until 1 January 1937.[3]

Later years

In retirement, he served as a Deputy Lieutenant and as a Justice of the Peace[1] and was a "very keen supporter" of Kent County Cricket Club, always attending Canterbury Cricket Week in the Buff's tent at the St Lawrence Ground.[12]

Death

Lynden-Bell died at Platt near Sevenoaks in Kent in 1943, aged 76.[12]

Personal life

He married the Hon. Bertha Marion Akers-Douglas, daughter of Aretas Akers-Douglas, 1st Viscount Chilston and Adeline Mary Austen-Smith, on 2 June 1905.

Cultural references

He appears in the war memoir Seven Pillars of Wisdom by T. E. Lawrence.

References
  1. Burke, Sir Bernard, ed. (1939). Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knighthood (97th ed.). Burke's Peerage & Gentry. p. 2714.
  2. "Obituary: Colonel Lynden-Bell". The Times. The Times Digital Archive. 7 May 1934. p. 16.
  3. "Arthur Lynden-Bell". Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives. Retrieved 3 November 2014.
  4. "No. 27456". The London Gazette. 22 July 1902. p. 4673.
  5. "No. 27436". The London Gazette. 23 May 1902. p. 3382.
  6. "No. 29467". The London Gazette (Supplement). 8 February 1916. p. 1488.
  7. "No. 29202". The London Gazette (Supplement). 23 June 1915. p. 6112.
  8. "Sir Charles Monro's First Despatch". 6 March 1916. Retrieved 3 November 2014.
  9. "No. 29541". The London Gazette (Supplement). 10 April 1916. p. 3784.
  10. 'Imperial Warrior: The Life & Times of Field Marshal Viscount Allenby, 1861-1936', by Lawrence James (Pub. Wiedendeld & Nicholson, 1993), P.120.
  11. "No. 30081". The London Gazette (Supplement). 21 May 1917. p. 4919.
  12. Lynden-Bell, Major-General Sir Arthur, KCB, KCMG, Obituaries in 1943, Wisden Cricketers' Almanack, 1944. Retrieved 5 April 2018.
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