Page 166 - RSDG Year of 2023

164 EAGLE AND CARBINE
LIEUTENANT GENERAL SIR NORMAN ARTHUR KCB CVO
Lieutenant General Sir Norman Arthur was born in London on 6 March 1931. His father, Colonel Evelyn Stewart Arthur joined the Royal Scots Greys in France in the last month of the First World War and his mother was Elizabeth, nee Burnett- Stuart. He was brought up in Ayrshire and educated at Eton before going to Sandhurst, where he represented the
Academy in the Modern Pentathlon. He was commis- sioned into the Royal Scots Greys in 1951 and in his early years he boxed for the Regiment.
An enthusiastic sportsman and a keen horseman, and with encouragement from the Regiment, Norman was selected to be part of the GB Olympics 3 day event team in 1960 following the culmination of the trials at Badminton. Eighteen nations competed in the event which took place about 30 miles from Rome. He was one of a team of four and rode Blue Jeans. After the dressage section of the competition, which took three days to complete, the British team was a long way down the list, although Norman was placed in the top 15 and the leading British rider. In the cross-country section, Blue Jeans was lamed by over- jumping on the hard ground on what was a controver- sially difficult course and had to be withdrawn. Norman was close to the end of the course and without penalties at this stage. The three remaining British horses had clear rounds in the show jumping section and the team finished in fourth place by half a point. The Australians won the competition. Norman also competed in five three-day events at Badminton and rode in many point-to-points and hunter chases. Regimentally, he also took part in several Sprot Cups. In 1988, when he was Colonel of the Regiment, his race ended when he was knocked off by a piece of broken rail but in another Sprot Cup held later that year he came 5th, , the same place he came in 1992.
On the soldiering front, perhaps one of the most memorable events was in 1964 when he was a squadron leader in Libya. While training in the desert his squadron of tanks strayed into an unmarked German minefield- a legacy from the Second World War. Three tanks in succession lost their tracks but there were no serious injuries to the soldier, despite the drivers’ and commanders’ heads sticking out of the hatches. Norman ordered the remaining tanks to halt, close down, do a 180 degree neutral turn and withdraw while he remained to supervise the recovery f the three immobilised Centurions.
In 1971, the Royal Scots Greys amalgamated with the 3rd Carabinier to form the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards. In the lead up to the amalgamation Norman chaired the
Amalgamation Committee representing the Royal Scots Greys and was described by the first commanding officer of The Royal Sots Dragoon Guards, Lieutenant Colonel Tony Bateman, as being the architect of the amalgamation agreements. On the amalgamation parade he was on duty as a member of The Royal Company of Archers with thirteen other regimental officers who were also members of the Royal Company under command of Lieutenant Colonel Aidan Sprot. In 1972 he was appointed commanding officer of the Regiment and, during his time in command, the Regiment moved from Herford to Osnabruck in 1973 and included a tour in Northern Ireland in 1974 for which the Regiment had to retrain as Infantry and for which he was mentioned in desptaches.
After command he was posted to be a member of the Directing Staff at Staff College before being promoted to Brigadier and commanding 7th Armoured Brigade from 1976-1977. He was subsequently appointed to the intelligence staff in the Ministry of Defence, having previously served as a major in the branch responsible for monitoring the Warsaw Pact’s ground forces. He was promoted to Major General in 1980 and took command of the 3rd Armoured Division from 1980-1982. After a stint at the MOD as Director personal Services (Army) he was appointed General Officer Commanding Scotland and Governor of Edinburgh Castle in the rank of Lieutenant General, posts he held from 1985-1988. As the first cavalryman to hold this position, Norman uncharacter- istically decided that for his Installation parade a little theatre was required and so arrived on a horse, naturally grey, called Blitz. The applause as he arrived on the Esplanade caused Blitz to buck but Norman hadn’t ;lost his touch and did not lose his seat.
General Norman retired from the Army in 1988 and he and Tessa, whom he had met in 1958 and whom he had married in 1960 went to live in Newbarns, Colvend the house they had bought 17 years earlier. However, his regimental and Army roles did not finish there and he continued as Colonel of the Regiment, a position he had held since 1984 until 1992. He was the Colonel Commandant Military Provost Staff Corps from 1983 -1988, the Honorary Colonel of 205 (Scottish) General Hospital from 1988-1993 and then Colonel of The Scottish Yeomanry from 1992-1997. In addition, he served as the Lord Lieutenant for the Stewartry of Kirkcudbright, Dumfries and Galloway Region and was an officer in the Royal Company of Archers, Queen’s Body Guard for Scotland.
On handing over as Colonel of the Regiment he was persuaded to take on the task of chairing a committee to raise funds for and creating a regimental museum in