ARTHUR, Sir George.

Inquire · Offered by Peter Harrington

The Story of the Household Cavalry. First editions, a distinctly bright set of this comprehensive and handsome history, complete with the final volume, published 17 years after the first two and by a different publisher, which focusses on the Household Cavalry's service in the First World War. The diminutive and well-connected Sir George Arthur (1860-1946) joined the 2nd Life Guards in 1881, seeing active service in Egypt before retiring, joining the Hertfordshire Yeomanry and volunteering for service in the Boer War. He was private secretary to Lord Kitchener (1914-16), of whom he wrote a biography, and attached to GHQ in France for the remainder of the war. A regular in the society pages of the day, fond of amateur dramatics, and slumming it in the East End, for an embarrassing moment in 1888 Arthur was a "person of interest" during the Whitechapel Murders. He was portrayed by Spy of Vanity Fair, impeccable in undress uniform, as "The Mite".Inscribed on each front pastedown "J. F. Brocklehurst, 1911". John Fielden Brocklehurst, 1st Baron Ranksborough (1852-1921) was commissioned into the Royal Horse Guards, saw action in Egypt in 1882, and commanded the 2nd Cavalry Brigade of the Natal Field Force in South Africa. He would almost certainly have been known to the author.

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