ARNOT, Walter Oliphant
| Service Number: | Officer |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | Not yet discovered |
| Last Rank: | Lieutenant |
| Last Unit: | 3rd South Australian Bushmen's Contingent |
| Born: | Harwich, Essex, England , 1 September 1860 |
| Home Town: | Adelaide, South Australia |
| Schooling: | Royal Naval School, Newcross, England |
| Occupation: | Station Overseer |
| Died: | Suicide, Beaufort West, Central Karoo District, Western Cape, South Africa, 15 September 1902, aged 42 years |
| Cemetery: | Not yet discovered |
| Memorials: |
Boer War Service
| 1 Oct 1899: | Involvement Australian and Colonial Military Forces - Boer War Contingents, Lieutenant, Officer, 3rd South Australian Bushmen's Contingent | |
|---|---|---|
| 16 Oct 1900: | Promoted Australian and Colonial Military Forces - Boer War Contingents, Lieutenant |
Help us honour Walter Oliphant Arnot's service by contributing information, stories, and images so that they can be preserved for future generations.
Add my storyBiography contributed by Robert Kearney
Contingent’s Junior Subaltern from Adelaide came to South Australia 1879, married.
Biography contributed by Faithe Jones
Husband to Eleanor Frederica Rosevear (née Seabrook) Arnot of 100 Esmond Road, Bedford Park, London.
Two of their sons were KIA in WWI:
2nd Lieutenant Laurian Anthony Deane Arnot, 2nd Battalion Gordon Highlanders, was killed in action on the 25th of September 1915. He is commemorated on the Tyne Cot Memorial, Panels 72 to 75.
Colin Arnot 1st Battalion attached to B Company, 2/5th Battalion Gloucestershire Regiment. Killed in action on the 22nd of March 1918, aged 21
The Governor has received a telegram stating that Lieutenant Walter Oliphant Arnot, formerly of the South Australian Bushmen's Corps, died in South Arica on April 15. Lieutenant Arnot was a son of Dr. Henry Arnot, R.N. and was born at Harwich, Essex, England, on September 1, 1860. He was educated at the Royal Naval School, at Newcross, England and came to South Australia in 1879. For a considerable time he was engaged in gaining colonial experience at Martindale and other stations, and finally was appointed manager of the Weracata Station, before Mr. S.S. Railli took over the property. The deceased officer also managed Andamooka and Parakylia stations, to the north-west of Port Augusta. On the formation of the South Australian Bushmen's Corps Lieutenant Arnot, who had had military experience in A Battery, Field Artillery, was appointed junior subaltern, under Captain S.G. Hubbe, the other lieutenants being Lieutenants Collins, D.S.O., and Ives, D.S.O. Soon after reaching South Africa, Lieutenant Arnot joined A Battery of Artillery and served in Rhodesia and the Northern Transvaal, under General Carrington. He returned invalided after about twelve months' service, and when he had completely recovered from the attack of rheumatism and fever from which he suffered he went back to South Africa. He died at Vanderbyl's Kraal, Beaufort West, Cape Colony. His widow resides at Felixstowe, near Payneham.
Arnot had money problems back home, he wrote a note in his prayer book about not being a Boer agent. He walked up the little hill and shot himself. The people of Merweville assured the Arnot family they would continue to tend his gravesite. Despite having a wonderful military career, he took his life by his own hands.
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