View source for Arthur Edward Barstow

{{Short description|British Indian Army general (1888–1942)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2022}}
{{more footnotes|date=November 2016}}
{{Infobox military person
|name= Arthur Barstow
|image=https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/find-a-grave-prod/photos/2014/55/8128532_1393367427.jpg 
|image_size=200000000 
|caption= 
|birth_date= {{birth date|1888|03|17|df=yes}}
|death_date= {{death date and age|1942|01|28|1888|03|17|df=yes}}
|birth_place= [[Edinburgh]], Scotland
|death_place= [[British Malaya|Malaya]]
|placeofburial= 
|nickname= "Bustling Bill"<br>"Whiz Bang Sikh"
|allegiance= United Kingdom
|branch= [[British Indian Army]]
|serviceyears= 1908–1942
|rank= [[Major-general (United Kingdom)|Major general]]
|unit= [[15th Ludhiana Sikhs]]
|commands= [[9th Infantry Division (India)|9th Indian Division]] (1940–42)<br/>[[Waziristan]] District (1940)<br/>[[Kohat Brigade]] (1938–40)<br/>2nd Battalion, [[11th Sikh Regiment]] (1933–35)
|battles= [[First World War]] {{WIA}}<br/>[[1920 Iraqi revolt]]<br/>[[Mahmud Barzanji revolts]]<br/>[[Military history of the North-West Frontier|North-West Frontier]]<br/>[[Second World War]]
*[[Malayan campaign]] {{KIA}}
|awards= [[Companion of the Order of the Indian Empire]]<br/>[[Military Cross]]<br/>[[Mentioned in dispatches]] (5)
|relations= 
|laterwork=
}}
[[Major-general (United Kingdom)|Major-General]] '''Arthur Edward "Bustling Bill" Barstow''', {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|sep=,|CIE|MC}} (17 March 1888 – 28 January 1942) was a [[British Indian Army]] officer who commanded the [[9th Infantry Division (India)|9th Indian Division]] during the [[Battle of Malaya]]. He was killed by the Japanese on active service in 1942 while trying to cross a demolished railway bridge near Layang Layang village.

==Early life and family==
Barstow was the son of Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Adam Anderson Barstow, an officer in the [[72nd Seaforth Highlanders]], and Jane Cape Barstow. The Barstows were an Army family since the eighteenth century; his father Thomas fought in the [[Second Anglo-Afghan War|Second Afghan War]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Morris |first1=Richard |title=Cheshire: The Biography of Leonard Cheshire, VC, OM |date=2000 |publisher=Penguin |location=London |page=xxi}}</ref>  Arthur was born in Edinburgh and educated at [[Bradfield College]], before attending the [[Royal Military College, Sandhurst]]. He was the brother of Brigadier [[John Anderson Barstow]], who was killed in 1941, Lieutenant Edmund Leonard Barstow, killed fighting in [[Siege of Kut|Kūt]] in early 1917 whilst on attachment to the 36th Sikhs<ref>{{cite book |last1=Morris |first1=Richard |title=Cheshire: The Biography of Leonard Cheshire, VC, OM |date=2000 |publisher=Penguin |location=London |page=xxi}}</ref> and Primrose Cheshire, mother of [[Leonard Cheshire|Group Captain Leonard Cheshire V.C.]]the famous Second World War Bomber pilot.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Morris |first1=Richard |title=Cheshire: The Biography of Leonard Cheshire, VC, OM |date=2000 |publisher=Penguin |location=London |page=8}}</ref>

He married Nancy Lewkenor Knight, daughter of Brigadier General Henry Lewkenor Knight and Sybil Madeline, on 27 July 1927 in Alton. The generosity of his widow,  Nancy had a part to play in the establishment of disability charity [[Leonard Cheshire Disability|Leonard Cheshire]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Le Court History |url=https://rewind.leonardcheshire.org/spotlight/history-le-court-house/ |website=Rewind : Seven decades of stories from Leonard Cheshire |publisher=Leonard Cheshire |access-date=7 June 2022}}</ref>

==Military career==
On 25 January 1908 he was commissioned into the [[British Army]] on the Unattached List, before receiving a commission in the Indian Army on 11 March 1909. Between 1910 and 1919 Barstow served with the [[15th Ludhiana Sikhs]], including on the Western Front during the [[First World War]]. He was awarded the [[Military Cross]], wounded and [[mentioned in dispatches]] over the course of the conflict. He subsequently served in the [[1920 Iraqi revolt]] and in India, after attending the [[Staff College, Camberley]] from 1924 to 1925,<ref>Smart, p. 22</ref> and was Commanding Officer (CO) of the 2nd Battalion, 11th Sikh Regiment between 1933 and 1935.{{citation needed|date=June 2018}}

At the start of the [[Second World War]], Barstow was Commander of Waziristan District, and was invested as a [[Companion of the Order of the Indian Empire]] in recognition of his service. In September 1940 he became [[General Officer Commanding]] (GOC) of the [[9th Infantry Division (India)|9th Indian Division]] and served with the division during the early months of the Battle of Malaya. He was killed by the [[Japanese people|Japanese]] on 28 January 1942 while trying to cross a demolished railway bridge near Layang Layang village. At the time he was attempting to contact one of his brigades, the [[22nd Infantry Brigade (India)|22nd Indian Brigade]], which had become cut off from the rest of the retreating British forces. The Japanese recovered his body.{{citation needed|date=June 2018}}

The 22nd Indian Brigade was nearly completely destroyed by the Japanese. The 9th Indian Division, after suffering many more casualties, was later absorbed by the [[11th Infantry Division (India)|11th Indian Division]] and the [[8th Division (Australia)|8th Australian Division]], both of which later surrendered at [[Battle of Singapore|Singapore]].{{citation needed|date=June 2018}}

==Publications==
Barstow's ''The Sikhs: An Ethnology'' was published in 1928.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DuAzDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA24 |title=Sepoys against the Rising Sun: The Indian Army in Far East and South-East Asia, 1941–45 |first=Kaushik |last=Roy |publisher=BRILL |year=2016 |isbn=978-9-00430-678-3 |page=24}}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*{{oob person | id = 7525 | name = Arthur Edward Barstow }}
*[http://www.unithistories.com/units_index/default.asp?file=../units_index/documents.asp? British Indian Army officers]

==Bibliography==
*{{cite book | title = Singapore Burning | author = Colin Smith | publisher = Penguin | year = 2005 | isbn = 978-0-670-91341-1 }}
* {{Cite book|title=Biographical Dictionary of British Generals of the Second World War| first=Nick| last=Smart| location=Barnsley, U.K.| publisher=Pen & Sword Military| year=2005| isbn=1-84415-049-6}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Barstow, Arthur Edward}}
[[Category:1888 births]]
[[Category:1942 deaths]]
[[Category:Indian Army generals of World War II]]
[[Category:Companions of the Order of the Indian Empire]]
[[Category:Military history of Malaysia]]
[[Category:Military of Singapore under British rule]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Military Cross]]
[[Category:Indian Army personnel killed in World War II]]
[[Category:Military personnel from Edinburgh]]
[[Category:People educated at Bradfield College]]
[[Category:British military personnel of the Iraqi revolt of 1920]]
[[Category:Indian Army personnel of World War I]]
[[Category:Graduates of the Staff College, Camberley]]
[[Category:Graduates of the Royal Military College, Sandhurst]]
[[Category:20th-century British writers]]