COLONEL ARTHUR LEWIS SCAIFE, M.C. O.B.E.

Arthur Lewis Scaife was born in 1898 in Wittingham, Northumberland. He married Annie Chambers Robinson in 1916, in Blyth, Northumberland.

Arthur had been mobilised in 1914 and joined the Northumberland Fusiliers. He went to France in 1917 and was wounded and gassed at Passchendaele Ridge.

He returned to France in 1918 and was awarded the M.C. for his work as Battalion Intelligence Office. "He made an important reconnaissance, penetrating a great depth into enemy lines, a bringing back valuable information. Subsequently, when the battalion was held up by close range machine gun fire, he worked to a flank with a Lewis gun, and materially assisted to dislodge the enemy. In doing this he was hit on four separate occasions by enemy bullets. His courage and determination were conspicuous examples to all ranks".

 

Arthur joined the Royal Indian Marine in 1921. He was a Engineer Lieutenant in 1924, and left the service in 1928.

During his time with the RIM, he was divorced from his first wife, Annie, in January 1927 and married his second wife , Clarisse Vera Sampson in May 1927. Clarisse had been born in Montreal, Canada. They were married in Knightsbridge. Arthur returned to India with his new wife in Aug 1927.  Their son David was born in India in March 1928. The Scaife family returned to Englaand in June 1928. There second son Hugh Monck Scaife was born in Hampshire in 1930.

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In 1930 Arthur rejoined the Territorial Army with the Hampshire Regiment and became Lieutenant-Colonel. During the Second World War he was appointed to the staff in 1942.

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The Scaife family moved into Moncks Dene in 1932 and lived there until 1946.

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Arthur was awarded the OBE in 1943.

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While in Hampshire he was an active member of the hunting community.

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After leaving Moncks Dene, the family moved to Staffordshire. Arthur was appointed Secretary of the Staffordshire Territorial and Auxiliary Forces Association in 1946, and became a Deputy-Lieutenant for the county in 1951.

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He became an Honorary Colonel of the 14th (Staffordshire and Shropshire) Battalion.

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Arthur died in 1977 in Lymington, Hampshire. Clarisse died in 1980, also in Lymington.

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The Royal Museums Greenwich holds a document entitled 'Transcript of career details of Colonel Arthur Lewis Scaife OBE, MC, TD, DL (1898-1980) together with a photograph signed by Scaife, June 1927. Reference RIN /45, part of the Royal Indian Navy Collection.

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