Arthur Drummond Borton

Few British officers of his generation served in such varied capacities as Lieutenant-Colonel Arthur Drummond Borton, VC, CMG, DSO. During a career that ranged from the closing stages of the South African War to aerial reconnaissance over France, naval service at Gallipoli, battalion command in Palestine and service in North Russia, Borton repeatedly returned to active duty despite injuries that might have ended another officer's career.

Arthur Drummond Borton was born on 1 July 1883, the son of Lieutenant-Colonel Arthur Close Borton and Adelaide Beatrice Drummond. He belonged to a distinguished military family. His grandfather, General Sir Arthur Borton, GCB, GCMG, served as Governor of Malta from 1878 to 1884, while his younger brother, Amyas Eden Borton, later became an Air Vice-Marshal in the Royal Air Force. Published sources disagree over whether Arthur Drummond Borton himself was born in Malta or at Cheveney in Kent, and no contemporary birth record has yet been located to resolve the conflict.

Educated at Eton College and the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, Borton was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the King's Royal Rifle Corps, formerly the 60th Rifles, on 18 January 1902. He reached South Africa in time for the final months of the Second Boer War and took part in operations in the Transvaal between March and May 1902. His South African service was subsequently represented by the Queen's South Africa Medal with the clasps Cape Colony, Transvaal and South Africa 1902. He was promoted lieutenant in 1906 and later served in Bermuda, the West Indies, Ireland and India.

Ill health eventually interrupted his regular Army career. Rather than stating that he was simply “discharged in 1908,” the surviving official record shows that Borton was placed temporarily on the Half-pay List with effect from 10 March 1909. Later that year he travelled to the United States and spent several years fruit farming on the Pacific Coast before the outbreak of the First World War brought him back to military service.

Returning to Britain in 1914, Borton rejoined military service and in early 1915 served in France as an observer with the Royal Flying Corps. On 5 March 1915 he was seriously injured in an aircraft accident, suffering major injuries to his neck as well as concussion. Accounts differ over the precise number of fractured vertebrae, so it is safer to describe the injury without repeating the frequently quoted but inconsistently reported claim that his neck was broken “in three places.” Despite being judged unfit for further ordinary military service, Borton found another route back to the front.

On 29 June 1915, the London Gazette recorded the issue of a temporary commission as Lieutenant-Commander in the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve to Arthur Drummond Borton. This was a distinct wartime naval appointment and should not be combined with his later British Army rank in his principal title. He served at Gallipoli, including at Suvla, in command of a detachment of Royal Marine machine guns in difficult sections of the line. For those services he was appointed a Companion of the Distinguished Service Order. His DSO citation praised his “most valuable services” commanding the detachment in difficult and dangerous parts of the Gallipoli Peninsula.

Borton subsequently returned to Army service. In June 1916 he became second-in-command of the 2nd/22nd (County of London) Battalion, The London Regiment (The Queen's), and served with the battalion during the continuing war. On 17 March 1917 he became its commanding officer with the temporary rank of lieutenant-colonel. The battalion later joined the Egyptian Expeditionary Force in Palestine.

It was there, near Tel-el-Sheria on 7 November 1917, that Borton performed the actions for which he received the Victoria Cross. During an attack in darkness over unfamiliar ground, he deployed his battalion and led its companies against a strongly defended Ottoman position. When the leading troops were halted by intense machine-gun fire, Borton moved along his line under fire, reorganised his command and led the renewed advance that captured the position. Later in the fighting he led a party of volunteers against field guns firing at close range and captured both the guns and their detachments. The official citation described his conduct as “most conspicuous bravery and leadership.”

His Victoria Cross was published in the Fifth Supplement to the London Gazette, issue 30433, page 13221, associated with the Gazette of 14 December and issued on 18 December 1917. The biography should cite that Gazette reference rather than describing the number 915 as an official Victoria Cross register entry. The number is used by later VC reference works as an index number, but I have not identified an official government register establishing it in the form previously claimed.

On 23 February 1918, King George V invested Borton with both the Victoria Cross and the Distinguished Service Order at Buckingham Palace. His service in the Middle East also brought further honours. On 9 November 1918, the London Gazette listed Major (temporary Lieutenant-Colonel) Arthur Drummond Borton, VC, DSO, under the Order of the Nile, 3rd Class. This is the authoritative grade and replaces the incorrect “Knight” description found in some secondary medal lists. In the contemporary Order of the Nile structure, the 3rd Class corresponded to the Commander grade.

In the 1919 New Year Honours, Borton was appointed a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George (CMG) for services connected with military operations in Egypt. The official Gazette records him as Major (temporary Lieutenant-Colonel) Arthur Drummond Borton, VC, DSO, of the 2/22nd Battalion, London Regiment. He is also consistently recorded as having received the Russian Order of St Vladimir, 4th Class with Swords. That decoration should remain in his honours, but the precise original award date and granting Russian authority have not yet been established from a primary award or British acceptance notice. It is therefore preferable to say that he received the Russian Order of St Vladimir rather than that “Imperial Russia presented it” to him.

Borton continued to serve after the main fighting of the First World War and took part in the North Russian campaign in 1919. On 11 November 1920 he was one of the pallbearers at the burial of the Unknown Warrior in Westminster Abbey, a distinction shared by decorated servicemen selected to represent the armed forces. He relinquished his commission on 30 September 1921, his final rank being lieutenant-colonel.

Arthur Drummond Borton died at Southwold, Suffolk, on 5 January 1933, aged 49, and was buried at St Mary's Churchyard, Hunton, Kent. His surviving honours record includes the Victoria Cross, CMG, DSO, Queen's South Africa Medal with three clasps, 1914–15 Star, British War Medal, Victory Medal, Order of the Nile, 3rd Class, and the Russian Order of St Vladimir, 4th Class with Swords.

He should not be confused with his grandfather, General Sir Arthur Borton, GCB, GCMG, the former Governor of Malta, nor with his father, Lieutenant-Colonel Arthur Close Borton. Arthur Drummond Borton did not become a major-general, was not born in 1861, and did not receive the Victoria Cross for the Battle of Bergendal in 1900. His Victoria Cross was earned as a British Army lieutenant-colonel commanding the 2nd/22nd London Regiment near Tel-el-Sheria in Palestine on 7 November 1917. His earlier rank of lieutenant-commander belonged specifically to his temporary wartime service in the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve.