Arthur Henry Seton Hart-Synnot

Arthur Henry Seton Hart-Synnot CMG, DSO and Bar was a British Army general.

He was from a family with history of military service, his uncle Sir Reginald Hart had been awarded the Victoria Cross in Afghanistan. [http://www.firstworldwar.bham.ac.uk/donkey/hartsynnot.htm Profile at a Birmingham University website] ]

Hart-Synnot had passed Staff College in 1899 and after the Boer War his career took the staff path, first as an Aide-de-Camp to his uncle, [LondonGazette|issue=27517|startpage=390|date=20 January 1903|accessdate=2008-02-26] [LondonGazette|issue=27625|startpage=8198|date=11 December 1903|accessdate=2008-02-26] and then serving in Japan in 1904 and Hong Kong between 1907–11. [LondonGazette|issue=28010|startpage=2330|date=5 April 1907|accessdate=2008-02-26] [LondonGazette|issue=28015|startpage=2734|date=23 April 1907|accessdate=2008-02-26] He was promoted major in March 1909. [LondonGazette|issue=28233|startpage=2038|date=16 March 1909|accessdate=2008-02-26] After a tour in Burma with his regiment (1911–13), he was appointed GSO2 [LondonGazette|issue=28785|startpage=9541|date=26 December 1913|accessdate=2008-02-26] at GHQ India on 27 October 1913, until October 1916, when he returned to Britain. He deployed to France on New Year’s Day 1917, serving again as a GSO2 [LondonGazette|issue=30005|startpage=3110|date=30 March 1917|accessdate=2008-02-26] [LondonGazette|issue=30056|supp=yes|startpage=4423|date=8 May 1917|accessdate=2008-02-26] [LondonGazette|issue=30213|supp=yes|startpage=7877|date=31 July 1917|accessdate=2008-02-26] with the 17th and 40th Divisions. He became a temporary Brigadier when he was appointed to command 6th Infantry Brigade on [28 April 1918, [LondonGazette|issue=30731|supp=yes|startpage=6757|date=4 June 1918|accessdate=2008-02-26] where he was severely wounded losing both legs. In the 1918 King's Birthday Honours he was awarded a Bar to his DSO. [LondonGazette|issue=30716|supp=yes|startpage=6451|endpage=6457|date=31 May 1918|accessdate=2008-02-26] He was also made a Chevalier of the Légion d'Honneur, [LondonGazette|issue=30848|supp=yes|startpage=9650|date=16 August 1918|accessdate=2008-02-26] and awarded the French Croix de guerre. [LondonGazette|issue=31736|supp=yes|startpage=701|date=13 January 1920|accessdate=2008-02-26] He was placed on the half-pay list and retired as an honorary Brigadier in 1920 as a result of these wounds. [LondonGazette|issue=31762|supp=yes|startpage=1341|date=30 January 1920|accessdate=2008-02-26] [LondonGazette|issue=31772|supp=yes|startpage=1661|date=6 February 1920|accessdate=2008-02-26]

He married his nurse Violet Drower who he met whilst convalescing. His love affair with a Japanese woman is the subject of the book "Falling Blossom" by Peter Pagnamenta.

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