View source for Sandy Arbuthnot

{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
'''Ludovic "Sandy" Gustavus Arbuthnot''', later 16th<ref>Courts of the Morning, prolog</ref> '''Lord Clanroyden'''  is a fictional character who appears in various books by [[John Buchan]] in the [[Richard Hannay]] series.  These books include ''[[Greenmantle]]'', ''[[The Three Hostages]]'', ''[[The Courts of the Morning]]'', and ''[[The Island of Sheep]]'', but not the first in the series, ''[[The Thirty-Nine Steps]]''.  He also appears in ''[[The League of Heroes]]'' by [[Xavier Mauméjean]]. His particular expertise is in adopting disguises which completely take in Hannay, the "friend [he] knows best in the world".

From the data within Buchan's novels, it is possible to deduce that Arbuthnot was born 1882,<ref>Greenmantle, ch.2</ref> as the second son of Edward ("Billy") Cospatrick Arbuthnot, 15th Baron Clanroyden (educated at [[Harrow School]]). He was educated at [[Eton College]] and [[New College, Oxford]], where he gained a Third at [[Greats]]. He was a captain in the Tweeddale Yeomanry, later promoted to colonel. He served as honorary attaché at various embassies and worked for the [[Reform Club]] in 1899. He married Barbara and settled at an idyllic estate called Laverlaw, near [[Ettrick, Scotland|Ettrick]] in the Borders. It is Lady Clanroyden, presumably Sandy's wife rather than mother, who first appears in print.

Arbuthnot was based on Hon. Colonel Sir [[Aubrey Herbert]] (1880–1923; twice offered the [[King of Albania|throne of Albania]], 2nd son of 4th Earl of Carnarvon), but later also reflected [[T. E. Lawrence]].<ref>{{cite book|author=Margaret FitzHerbert|title= The man who was Greenmantle - a biography of Aubrey Herbert|publisher= Oxford University Press|year= 1985|ISBN= 0-19-281856-2}}</ref>  Anne Taylor and James Jauncey have argued that the travels of [[Cunninghame Graham|R. B. Cunninghame Graham]] in [[Morocco]] provided another source of inspiration for the character.<ref>Taylor, Anne (2005), ''The People's Laird: A Life of Robert Bontine Cunninghame Graham'', The Tobias Press, {{isbn|9780954963507}}</ref><ref>Jauncey, James (2023), ''Don Roberto: The Adventure of Being Cunninghame Graham'', Scotland Street Press, p. 215, {{isbn|978-1-910895-76-4}}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{Richard Hannay}}

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[[Category:Fictional British Army officers]]
[[Category:Fictional British spies]]
[[Category:Fictional characters based on real people]]
[[Category:Fictional colonels]]
[[Category:Fictional lords and ladies]]
[[Category:Fictional military captains]]
[[Category:Fictional spies in literature]]
[[Category:Fictional World War I veterans]]
[[Category:John Buchan characters]]
[[Category:Literary characters introduced in 1916]]
[[Category:Male characters in literature]]


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