Arthur Borton (British Army officer)

General Sir Arthur Borton GCB GCMG (20 January 1814 – 7 September 1893) was a British Army officer who became Governor of Malta.

For the Victoria Cross recipient, see Arthur Borton.

Sir Arthur Borton
Sir Arthur Borton
Born20 January 1814
Blofield, Norfolk, England
Died7 September 1893
London, England
Allegiance United Kingdom
Service/branch British Army
Years of service1832–1884
RankGeneral
Commands heldMysore division
Battles/warsFirst Anglo-Sikh War
Crimean War
AwardsKnight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath
Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George
Other workGovernor of Malta

Early life
Victoria Gate in Valletta: the foundation stone was laid by Sir Arthur Borton

Borton was born on 20 January 1814 in Blofield, Norfolk where his father John Drew Borton was the rector.[1] His mother was Louisa Carthew one of the daughters of Rev Thomas Carthew of Woodbridge Abbey in Suffolk. He was educated at Eton College and the Military College, Sandhurst.[1]

Confederate soldier Collett Leventhorpe was his kinsman.[2]

Military career
Plaque mentioning Borton at San Anton Palace

Borton was commissioned into the 9th (East Norfolk) Regiment of Foot in 1832.[3] He took part in the First Anglo-Sikh War in 1845 and in 1854–55 he commanded the regiment at the siege of Sevastopol during the Crimean War.[3] He became commander of an infantry brigade at the Curragh in Ireland in 1866 and General Officer Commanding the Mysore division of the Madras Army in 1870. Promoted to full general in 1877,[4] he became Governor of Malta in 1878 before retiring in June 1884.[3]

Borton was Colonel of the 1st West India Regiment from 1876 to 1888[5] and Colonel of the Norfolk Regiment from 1889 to 1893.[6]

He died, on 7 September 1893 at his residence, 105 Eaton Place, London, and was buried on 9 September at Hunton, near Maidstone, Kent.[7]

Family life

Borton married Caroline Mary Georgina Close in 1850, daughter of Rev John Forbes Close of Morne, County Down.[1] They had two sons: Arthur Close Barton, lieutenant-colonel Somerset Light Infantry, father of lieutenant colonel Arthur Drummond Borton VC and air vice-marshal Amyas Eden Borton, and Charles Edward Borton, lieutenant-colonel in the Norfolk Regiment, who served in the Second Anglo-Afghan War and the Second Boer War.[7]

References
  1. "Obituary." Times [London, England] 8 Sept. 1893: 10. The Times Digital Archive. Web. 23 June 2013.
  2. Collett Leventhorpe, the English Confederate: The Life of a Civil War General, 1815–1899, p. 26-7
  3. R. H. Vetch, rev. James Lunt. "Borton, Sir Arthur (1814–1893)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/2924. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  4. The British Almanac, p. 69
  5. "No. 25363". The London Gazette. 10 June 1884. p. 2528.
  6. "9th (East Norfolk) Regiment of Foot". Regiments.org. Archived from the original on 2 January 2007. Retrieved 8 July 2016.CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  7.  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Vetch, Robert Hamilton (1901). "Borton, Arthur". Dictionary of National Biography (1st supplement). London: Smith, Elder & Co.
Political offices
Preceded by
Sir Charles van Straubenzee		 Governor of Malta
1878–1884		 Succeeded by
Sir Lintorn Simmons
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