Arthur Henry Seton Hart-Synnot

Arthur Henry Seton Hart-Synnot CMG, DSO and Bar was a British Army general who saw service in Japan, Hong Kong, Burma, India, and the European War of 1914 to 1918.

Early life
Hart-Synnot was from a family with a history of military service, and an uncle, Sir Reginald Hart, had been awarded the Victoria Cross in Afghanistan. He was educated at Clifton and the Royal Military College.

Military career
Hart-Synnot passed the Staff College in 1899, and after the Boer War his career took the staff path, first as an Aide-de-Camp to his uncle. In 1904 he was posted to Japan, and between 1907 and 1911 served in Hong Kong. He was promoted major in March 1909. After a tour in Burma with his regiment (1911–13), he was appointed GSO2 at GHQ India on 27 October 1913, where he remained until October 1916, when he returned to Britain. The Great War was now convulsing Europe, and Hart-Synnot was deployed to France on New Year’s Day 1917, serving again as a GSO2  with the 17th and 40th Divisions. He became a temporary Brigadier when he was appointed to command 6th Infantry Brigade on 28 April 1918, where he was severely wounded, losing both legs. In the 1918 King's Birthday Honours he was awarded a Bar to his DSO. He was also made a Chevalier of the Légion d'Honneur, and awarded the French Croix de guerre. He was placed on the half-pay list and retired as an honorary Brigadier in 1920 as a result of these wounds.

Hart-Synnot married a nurse, Violet Drower, whom he met while convalescing from his wounds.

Popular culture
The record of approximately 800 extant letters document an extended love affair with a Japanese woman. This correspondence was the subject of a 2006 biography, The Sword and the Blossom by Peter Pagnamenta.