TREFUSIS, Arthur Owen

Biography:

Arthur Owen Trefusis was born on 2 June 1884 in Chittlehampton, Devon, the second son of Reverend Robert Edward Trefusis, Bishop of Crediton and Mary Emma Wethered.  His mother was from Great Marlow, Buckinghamshire, and in addition to attending Kelly College near Tavistock in Devon, Arthur was a pupil at Sir William Borlase’s Grammar School in Marlow from 1893-1899. His uncle, Thomas Owen Wethered was a successful landowner and brewer in the town, as well as its former Member of Parliament. In 1894 Arthur was awarded a Certificate of Competency as a Second Mate with the Merchant Service. He went on to work as 5th Officer on board the India arriving in Sydney from London on 4th September 1905, and as 4th Officer on board the Himalaya arriving in Sydney on 12th April 1906.  Arthur was also in the Naval Reserve in Exeter from 1903-1910, initially as a Midshipman and as an Acting Sub Lieutenant from 1909-1910. He resigned from the reserve on 6 September 1910.  He was initiated into the St. John the Baptist Lodge of Freemasons in Exeter on 25 November 1909, but by 1910 he was a member of St. John’s Lodge of Colombo, Ceylon, living in Wattagama.  He later moved to the Kurunegala Lodge.  Records show him travelling from Colombo back to Tilbury on 25 August 1913, listing his occupation as a Rubber Planter.  A further trip to Colombo in February 1914 confirms his occupation as a Planter and his residency in Ceylon.  As such he joined the Ceylon Planters Rifle Corps on 17 November 1914.  The Corps was a volunteer reserve regiment based in Kandy, which mobilised in October 1914, initially serving in Egypt. Arthur served as Command Sergeant Major in Egypt with the Ceylon Regiment and it is unclear when or why he left and joined the 9th (Service) Battalion of the North Lancashire Regiment, where he served as a Captain. There was a family connection with Lancashire, as Thomas Wethered’s wife was from Cheetham. Arthur himself was married to Alice Marjorie Spicer on 19 January 1916 in Exeter.  He served in France and was killed in action on 7 July 1916.  He is buried in the cemetery of St. Hiertha’s Church in Chittlehampton, Devon alongside his brother Haworth Trefusis who was killed in action in France a month before Arthur.