Service Army
Battalion
Regiment Native Rhodesian Regiment
Killed in Action: 23 July 1917
Buried Iringa, Tanzania
Rank | Number | Unit |
Sergeant | 497 | 2 Rhodesian Regiment |
Lieutenant | 2 Rhodesian Regiment |
Biography
Arthur Henry Rutherfoord was born in Portrush, Co Antrim in 1889 the 5th of 7 children of John Brownlee Rutherfoord and his wife Ellen (nee Allanson). His parents had been born in Ireland but Arthur's siblings were born as far apart as New South Wales in Australia, Ireland and Aldborough, Yorkshire. Arthur's father had served in the Boer War and had been awarded the DSO for services during operations in that war. John died in 1910 and at some point Arthur's mother, Ellen, moved to Alma House in Collingham.
Arthur and his brother Phillip first found employment as clerks in the Government Post Office Department, and in 1911 both were living at 24 West Street, London. However only a few months after the census was taken, Arthur sailed from Southampton on the 11th November 1911 on board the Garth Castle bound for Cape Town, South Africa as a member of the British South African Police (BSAP).
Arthur served during world war 1 in the fighting that took place in East Africa. He attested on the 27th Oct 1914 and served first as a sergeant in the 2nd Battalion Rhodesian Regiment from 9th March 1915 to 20th May 1916, and was then commissioned as a Lieutenant in the Rhodesian Native Regiment and served in this role from 19th July 1916 until his death on the 23rd July 1917.
Arthur was shot by a sniper during operations and was buried in Iringa Cemetery, Tanzania
Biography last updated 27 January 2020 17:50:27.
Sources
1911 Census. The National Archives. Class RG14 Piece 01178
First World War Medal Index Cards. The National Archives (WO372).
First World War Medal Index Rolls. The National Archives (WO329).
Commonwealth War Graves Commission Cemetery and Burial Reports
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