Page 136 - Wish Stream Year of 2019

father was a Brigadier. Purchasing his commis- sion on 13 January 1869, he served for the next 30 years with the 13th Foot, later Somerset Light Infantry, rising steadily up the ranks.
Promoted Lieutenant in October 1871, he was Adjutant of the 1st Battalion in 1874 and pro- moted to Captain in 1879. In 1881 he became ADC to his father, now General Sir Arthur Borton, the Governor of Malta (pictured standing in the middle behind his father).
Promoted Major in 1886 and Lieutenant Colonel in 1894, Borton junior commanded 1st Somer-
set Light Infantry until he retired on half pay in November 1898. Taking up the pen, he wrote a history of his regiment up to that time. Too old for service in the Great War, Borton proudly followed the careers of his sons, penning a best-selling book: My Warrior Sons.
Amyas Eden Borton (known as Biffy) was born in 1886 and commissioned into the Black Watch. Becoming a pilot in 1912 (the 170th Briton to do so) he was seconded to the Royal Flying Corps in 1914. Recognised as inventing the slang term for anti-aircraft fire ‘Archie’, he was wounded and awarded the DSO during early aerial com- bat over the Western Front in 1915. Borton later commanded the air forces supporting General Allenby’s Palestine campaign and then remained in the newly formed RAF. The second comman- dant of the RAF College Cranwell, Air Vice Mar- shall Borton CB CMG DSO AFC died in 1969.
Arthur Drummond Borton (known as Bosky) was born in 1883 and commissioned from Sandhurst into the King’s Royal Rifle Corps. After service in the Boer War, Borton was invalided out in 1908 and emigrated to the USA. Returning to the UK in August 1914 he re-joined his old regiment serving in France before joining the RFC as an observer. Severely injured in a crash, he recov- ered in time to transfer to the Royal Naval Vol- unteer Reserve and commanded the armoured Car detachment at Gallipoli for which he was awarded the DSO. Later taking command of 2/22 London regiment, he took his Battalion to Palestine where he was awarded the Victoria Cross in November 1917.
Lieutenant Colonel Borton VC CMG DSO died in 1933.
134 HISTORICAL