Arthur Noel Cumberbatch

Arthur was born on Christmas day 1895 in Constantinople, now Istanbul, Turkey. He was the son of Arthur Herbert Cumberbatch a foreign diplomat and his second wife Mary Anne D J nee Tristram.

On 26th March 1915 he is appointed temporary Second Lieutenant in the East Yorkshire Regiment. On his 20th birthday he arrives at Salonika in Greek Macedonia with the 9th Battalion of the East Yorkshire Regiment. He arrived in Egypt on 9th December 1915. At some point during his WW1 service he is mentioned in despatches but I have not been able to locate the entry in the London Gazette. He is promoted to temporary Lieutenant on 1st July 1917. On leaving the army he had risen to the rank of Captain.

Campaign: 1914-15 Star BW & VM (IC 209 & Emblems 23/6 or 28/6				(A) Where decoration was earned.
				(B) Present situation.
Name	Corps	Rank	Reg. No.			Roll on which included (if any)
(A) CUMBERBATCH	9^th Battalion East Yorkshire Regiment	2/Lieutenant				Medal	Roll	Page
(B) Arthur Noel	Gen. List	Acting Captain				Victory	Gen List Off 145	12D
						British	do	do
						15 Star	East Yorkshire Regiment Off 125	19
Action taken	1915 Star British War & Victory Medals Emblems
Theatre of War	Salonika 25 Dec 1915
Qualifying Date	EF/1/5097 EF/9/1845 E4/9/1279
(6 34 46) W234-HP5590 500,000 4/19 HWV(P240) K60S					(Over.

Correspondence List J claims submitted by A.A.G. 3^rd Echelon General Head Quarters B.S.F. 10 March 1919 Claim submitted by A.A.G. 3^rd Echelon G.H.Q. B.S.F. 16 Feb 1919 The Military Attaché Athens forwards application for medals 22 Oct 1920 EF9 29 Dec 1920 Address: G.H.Q. British Salonika Force British Legation Athens, Greece 20 Oct 1920

He was appointed to the Department of Overseas Trade as Established Assistant to the Commercial Diplomatic Officer at Athens, Greece on 6th November 1931. He was awarded the M.B.E. on 3rd June 1933 in the King George V's birthday honours list. On 3rd April 1934 he was appoined Commercial Secretary (Third Grade), at His Majesty's Legation at Athens. On 3rd February 1936 he was appointed Commercial Secretary (Third Grade), at His Majesty's Legation at Cairo. On 9 November 1937 he was appointed Commercial Secretary (Third Grade), at His Majesty's Legation at Tehran.

In King George VI's Birthday honours list for 1942 he was awarded the M.B.E. On 17th October 1944 he was appointed First Secretary (Commercial) in His Majesty's Embassy at Athens. On 7th May 1946 he was appointed Officer of His Majesty's Foreign Service (Sixth Grade) and upgraded to fixth grade on 1st October 1948.

He was awarded the C.M.G. in the New Year's honours list by the new Queen, Elizabeth II, in January 1953 when he was working as Minister (Commercial) at Her Majesty's Embassy in Cairo.

Arthur Noel died 3 days before his 87th birthday in 1982 in Westminster, London, England. He never married.