Arthur Henry Seton Hart-Synnot

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Arthur Henry Seton Hart-Synnot
Born19 July 1870
Ballymoyer House, Whitecross, Co Armagh, Ireland
Died1942 (aged 72)
Allegiance 
French Cross of War (1914-1918)

South African War; then in Japan, Hong Kong, Burma, and India; and finally in France in the First World War
.

Early life

Born at Ballymoyer House between Whitecross and Newtownhamilton in Co Armagh, Hart-Synnot was from a family with a history of military service. His father was Major General Arthur FitzRoy Hart-Synnot and his uncle, Sir Reginald Hart, was awarded the Victoria Cross in Afghanistan. He was educated at Clifton College, King William's College,[2] Isle of Man and the Royal Military College at Sandhurst.[3] He took the added surname of Hart-Synnot (in lieu of Hart) in 1902.[4]

Military career

After passing out from the Royal Military College, Hart-Synnot (then Hart) was commissioned into the

captain followed on 21 June 1899,[8]
the same year he passed the Staff College.

Hart served in the

relief of Kimberley (15 February 1900) and in the advance on Bloemfontein, including the battle of Paardeberg during which he was wounded,[9] the engagements at Driefontein, Poplar Grove, and Klip Drift, and in the subsequent occupation of Bloemfontein and operations east of that city about Thabanchu. In summer 1900 he served with Hamilton's Force in command of the Northern Company of Mounted Infantry and afterwards as Staff Officer of Legge's Corps of Mounted Infantry during the advance to Pretoria and the following capture of Johannesburg and Pretoria. He took part in the Battle of Diamond Hill (June 1900), and as staff officer of Mounted Infantry in the march to Betlehem and Vredefort, following which he served as brigade major of the Irish brigade with Lord Kitchener's column in pursuit of Boer general Christiaan de Wet.[7]

Following the end of the war in June 1902, Hart returned to the United Kingdom on the SS Soudan, arriving at Southampton in early September.

Aide-de-Camp to his uncle from December 1902[11] until November 1903.[12]

In 1904 he was posted to

Burma with his regiment (1911–13), he was appointed general staff officer grade 2 (GSO2)[16] at GHQ India on 27 October 1913, where he remained until October 1916, when he returned to Britain.[3]

The

Légion d'Honneur,[24] and awarded the French Croix de Guerre.[25] He was placed on the half-pay list and retired as an honorary brigadier-general in 1920 as a result of these wounds.[26][27]

Personal life

While a military observer in Japan during the Russo-Japanese War, Hart-Synnot began an extended love affair with a Japanese woman, Suzuki Masa (1878–1965), by whom he had two sons, Suzuki Kiyoshi (1906–1945) and Suzuki Hideo (1911–1915). In the 1980s, approximately 800 letters were discovered in Japan, addressed to Suzuki Masa from Hart-Synnot. This correspondence was the subject of a 2006 biography, Falling Blossom by Peter Pagnamenta and Momoko Williams published by Century.[28]

In 1919, Hart-Synnot married a nurse, Violet Drower (1886–1969), whom he met while convalescing from his wounds. The couple had no children.

See also

References

  1. ^ Summary of military career
  2. ^ Christopher, HS (1905). King William's College Register, 1833 -1904 (1st ed.). Isle of Man: James Maclehose & Sons. p. 243.
  3. ^ a b c d "'Lions Led By Donkeys': Arthur Henry Seton Hart-Synnot (1870-1942)". Archived from the original on 16 March 2009. Retrieved 2 November 2007.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  4. ^ "No. 27470". The London Gazette. 2 September 1902. p. 5683.
  5. ^ "No. 26095". The London Gazette. 7 October 1890. p. 5327.
  6. ^ "No. 26315". The London Gazette. 9 August 1892. p. 4494.
  7. ^ a b Hart′s army list, 1901
  8. ^ "No. 27095". The London Gazette. 4 July 1899. p. 4140.
  9. ^ "Casualties in the war". The Times. No. 36078. London. 1 March 1900. p. 6.
  10. ^ "The Army in South Africa - Troops returning home". The Times. No. 36857. London. 27 August 1902. p. 6.
  11. ^ "No. 27517". The London Gazette. 20 January 1903. p. 390.
  12. ^ "No. 27625". The London Gazette. 11 December 1903. p. 8198.
  13. ^ "No. 28010". The London Gazette. 5 April 1907. p. 2330.
  14. ^ "No. 28015". The London Gazette. 23 April 1907. p. 2734.
  15. ^ "No. 28233". The London Gazette. 16 March 1909. p. 2038.
  16. ^ "No. 28785". The London Gazette. 26 December 1913. p. 9541.
  17. ^ "No. 29996". The London Gazette. 23 March 1917. p. 2865.
  18. ^ "No. 30005". The London Gazette. 30 March 1917. p. 3110.
  19. ^ "No. 30056". The London Gazette (Supplement). 8 May 1917. p. 4423.
  20. ^ "No. 30213". The London Gazette (Supplement). 31 July 1917. p. 7877.
  21. ^ "No. 30731". The London Gazette (Supplement). 4 June 1918. p. 6757.
  22. ^ "No. 30716". The London Gazette (Supplement). 31 May 1918. pp. 6451–6457.
  23. ^ "No. 31684". The London Gazette (Supplement). 12 December 1919. p. 15436.
  24. ^ "No. 30848". The London Gazette (Supplement). 16 August 1918. p. 9650.
  25. ^ "No. 31736". The London Gazette (Supplement). 13 January 1920. p. 701.
  26. ^ "No. 31762". The London Gazette (Supplement). 30 January 1920. p. 1341.
  27. ^ "No. 31772". The London Gazette (Supplement). 6 February 1920. p. 1661.
  28. ^ Williams & Pagnamenta 2010.

Further reading

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