Background
Arbuthnot was born on 19 May 1824 and was a twin, the son of Alexander Arbuthnot, Bishop of Killaloe.
Arbuthnot was born on 19 May 1824 and was a twin, the son of Alexander Arbuthnot, Bishop of Killaloe.
He was educated at Rugby and attended the Royal Military Academy.
He served in the Royal Artillery in the Crimean War and rose to become a senior officer in British India. His half-brother, George Bingham Arbuthnot, was an honorary major general and Colonel of the Madras Light Cavalry in India. Arbuthnot was commissioned as second lieutenant in the Royal Artillery on 17 June 1843.
He served in the Crimean War as a captain in the 10th Battalion of the Royal Artillery.
He was slightly wounded in minor actions near Sevastopol on 17 June 1855 and received a severe wound on 23 August 1855. Arbuthnot went to India in 1868, and was actively employed in the Anglo-Afghan War.
She had been born in Barbados in 1845-1846, where her father, William Clarke, was a doctor. On his return to England in 1880, Arbuthnot was appointed deputy adjutant-general of artillery, then inspector-general of artillery, and finally president of the ordnance committee.
According to his article in the Dictionary of National Biography "his firmness and justice made him a highly respected administrator"
Arbuthnot returned to India in 1886, to serve from February as Commander-in-Chief of the Bombay Army and then from December as Commander-in-Chief of the Madras Army.
He served as senior military adviser for the Madras Presidency until 1890. He was appointed Colonel Commandant, Royal Artillery in 1893. A grandson, Charles Crombie, was a decorated flying ace of the Second World War.