Arthur James Austen-Cartmell was born on 24 April 1893, the eldest of the three children of James Austen Cartmell (1862-1921) and Mary Affleck Cartmell née Peacock (1860-1906). Civil Registration Birth Indexes show his birth being registered as both James Arthur Cartmell and James Arthur Austen-Cartmell in the 2nd quarter of 1893 in the Kensington Registration District, London.
In the 1891 census he is shown as Arthur J. A. Cartmell, aged 7 years and having been born in Chelsea, London, living at 31 Campden House Court, Kensington, with his parents and 2 siblings: Geoffrie Hugh Austen Cartmell (1895-1916) and Mary Emily Austen Cartmell (1898-1974), together with a cook, a parlourmaid, a housemaid and 2 nurses. His father was described as a barrister-at-law.
His father, James Austen Cartmell adopted Austen as a prefix to his surname in tribute to an illustrious ancestor, becoming James Austen-Cartmell and this too was adopted by his wife and their three children. However, if we read the Jane Austen Family Seal correctly, James Austen Cartmell was the great grandson of a business partner of Henry Austen, Jane's brother, which means he was not even related to the illustrious writer.
Having been educated at: Durnford School, Langton Matravers, Swanage, Dorset; Eton College, Windsor, Berkshire, where his housemaster was H. Macnaghten, and at Trinity College, Cambridge where he was admitted as a pensioner on 25 June 1912, he was initiated at the age of 19 years into the Kaisar-i-hind Lodge No.1724 on 7 February 1913, which met at the Regent Masonic Hall, Café Royal, Regent Street, London. Masonic registers show that he was an undergraduate at Cambridge. He was also a student at Lincoln's Inn, London.
The London Gazette of 25 August 1914 shows him as Arthur James Austen-Cartmell and that as a University Candidate he was commissioned as Second Lieutenant in the King's Royal Rifle Corps with effect from 26 August 1914. He entered France on 14 December 1914 and was subsequently promoted to Lieutenant. He was invalided home in May 1915 but later returned to the front in France. He was killed in action at Vimy Ridge, France, aged 23 years, on 1 June 1916 and his body was buried in Plot 15, Row M, Grave 25, in the Cabaret-Rouge British Cemetery, D937, 62153 Souchez, France.
Probate records confirm that his address had been 31 Campden House Court, Kensington and that when administration of his estate was granted to his father on 27 July 1916 his effects totalled £474-11s-9d. His army effects totalling 14 shillings and 3 pence were sent to his father on 10 October 1916 and his £50-0s-0d war gratuity was despatched to his father on 8 October 1919. He was posthumously awarded the 1914-1915 Star, the British War Medal 1914-1918 and the Victory Medal and these were sent to his father on 23 March 1921 at 27 Camden House Court, London, W8.
He is shown as 'A. J. Austen Cartmell' on the Lincoln's Inn war memorial at New Square, London, WC2. He is also commemorated as 'Lieutenant A J Austen-Cartmell' on the Durnford School war memorial at St George's Church, High Street, Langton Matravers, Swanage, BH193HB; on page 115 of the The (1921) Masonic Roll of Honour 1914-1918 and on The (1940) Scroll - WW1 Roll of Honour both of which are at Freemasons' Hall, 60 Great Queen Street, London, WC2B 5AZ; in the List of Etonians who fell in the Great War 1914-1914 book; on the Eton College war memorial in The Cloisters at Eton College; on the Chapel North Wall at Trinity College, Cambridge; on the Commonwealth War Graves Commission's website; on the Imperial War Museum's Lives of the First World War website and on the A Street Near You website.
Credit for this entry to: Andrew Behan.
