1. Arthur Percival saw service in the First World War and built a successful military career during the interwar period, but is best known for his defeat in the Second World War, when Percival commanded British Commonwealth forces during the Malayan campaign, which culminated in a catastrophic defeat at the Battle of Singapore.
Some historians, such as Sir John Smyth, have argued that under-funding of British Malaya's defences and the inexperienced, under-equipped nature of the Commonwealth forces in Malaya, not Arthur Percival's leadership, were ultimately to blame for the defeat.
Arthur Ernest Percival was born on 26 December 1887 in Aspenden Lodge, Aspenden near Buntingford in Hertfordshire, England, the second son of Alfred Reginald and Edith Percival.
Arthur Percival's father was the land agent of the Hamel's Park estate and his mother came from a Lancashire cotton family.
Arthur Percival's only qualification on leaving in 1906 was a higher school certificate.
Arthur Percival was a more successful sportsman, playing cricket and tennis and running cross country.
Arthur Percival rose to colour sergeant in the school's Volunteer Rifle Corps.
Arthur Percival enlisted on the first day of the war as a private in the Officer Training Corps of the Inns of Court, at the age of 26, and was promoted after five weeks' basic training to temporary second lieutenant.
Arthur Percival worked unceasingly, with absolute disregard of danger, in completing every detail in the consolidation of the captured position.
Arthur Percival took a regular commission as a captain with the Essex Regiment in October 1916, whilst recovering from his injuries in hospital.
Arthur Percival was appointed a temporary major in his original regiment.
Arthur Percival was given brevet promotion to major, and awarded the Distinguished Service Order, with his citation stating the following:.
Arthur Percival handled his battalion cleverly, showing power of command and knowledge of tactics.
Arthur Percival set a fine example during several critical periods.
Arthur Percival ended the war, which came to an end on 11 November 1918 due to the Armistice with Germany, as a respected soldier, described as "very efficient" and was recommended for the Staff College.
Arthur Percival's studies were delayed in 1919 when he decided to volunteer for service with the Archangel Command of the British Military Mission during the North Russia intervention of the Russian Civil War.
In 1920, Arthur Percival was deployed to Ireland and fought against the Irish Republican Army during the Irish War of Independence, first as a company commander and later as the intelligence officer of the 1st Essex Regiment.
Arthur Percival was stationed in Bandon and Kinsale in County Cork.
Arthur Percival proved to be an energetic counterinsurgency commander who was noted for his aptitude for intelligence-gathering and establishment of bicycle infantry formations which acted as flying columns.
Arthur Percival was accused by several IRA prisoners of using torture during interrogations.
On 4 February 1921, while participating a raid carried out by British forces between Bandon and Kilbrittain, Arthur Percival shot and killed IRA volunteer Patrick Crowley Jr.
When Crowley, who was being treated for appendicitis, tried to flee from a house in Maryboro, Arthur Percival chased him on foot and shot him in the back.
Barry later wrote that Arthur Percival was "easily the most vicious anti-Irish of all serving British officers".
Arthur Percival participated in reprisals, burning farms and businesses in response to IRA attacks.
Arthur Percival was said to regularly drive in the countryside in an open touring car so he could "have cockshots at farmers working in the fields".
Clifford Kinvig, Arthur Percival's biographer considers him to have been unfairly vilified by Irish republican propaganda due to being "tireless in his attempt to destroy the spirit of the people and the organisation of the IRA".
Arthur Percival impressed his instructors, who picked him out as one of eight students for accelerated promotion, and his fellow students who admired his cricketing skills.
Arthur Percival was given brevet promotion to lieutenant-colonel in 1929.
In 1930, Arthur Percival spent a year studying at the Royal Naval College, Greenwich.
From 1931 to 1932, Arthur Percival was a General Staff Officer Grade 2, an instructor at the Staff College.
Arthur Percival was made a full colonel in March 1936, and until 1938 he was General Staff Officer Grade 1 in Malaya, the Chief of Staff to General Dobbie, the General Officer Commanding in Malaya.
Arthur Percival supported Dobbie's unexecuted plan for the construction of fixed defences in Southern Johore.
In March 1938, Arthur Percival returned to Britain and was promoted to brigadier on the General Staff, Aldershot Command.
Arthur Percival was appointed brigadier, General Staff, of the I Corps, British Expeditionary Force, commanded by General Dill, from 1939 to 1940.
Arthur Percival was then promoted to acting major-general, and in February 1940 briefly became General Officer Commanding of the 43rd Infantry Division.
Arthur Percival was made Assistant Chief of the Imperial General Staff at the War Office in 1940 but asked for a transfer to an active command after the Dunkirk evacuation.
Arthur Percival was appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath in the 1941 King's Birthday Honours.
Arthur Percival left Britain in a Sunderland flying boat and embarked on an arduous fortnight-long, multi-stage flight via Gibraltar, Malta, Alexandria, Basra, Karachi, and Rangoon, where he was met by an RAF transport.
The Japanese advanced rapidly, and on 27 January 1942 Arthur Percival ordered a general retreat across the Johore Strait to the island of Singapore and organised a defence along the length of the island's 70-mile coast line.
The Japanese at this point were running low on artillery shells, but Arthur Percival did not know this.
Over six feet in height and lanky, with a clipped moustache and two protruding teeth, and unphotogenic, Arthur Percival was an easy target for a caricaturist, being described as "tall, bucktoothed and lightly built".
Arthur Percival insisted on defending the north-eastern shore of Singapore most heavily, against the advice of the Allied supreme commander in South East Asia, General Sir Archibald Wavell.
Arthur Percival was perhaps fixed on his responsibilities for defending the Singapore Naval Base.
Arthur Percival spread his forces thinly around the island and kept few units as a strategic reserve.
Arthur Percival refused to reinforce them as he continued to believe that the main assault would occur in the north east.
Arthur Percival never got what he needed: Louis Allen says Murnane got 'one lorry and ten frightened Sikhs'.
When confronted again, all that Arthur Percival delivered was one lorry and ten Royal Engineers but it was too late.
Yamashita was momentarily surprised to see his former captive at the ceremony; on this occasion Arthur Percival refused to shake Yamashita's hand, angered by the mistreatment of POWs in Singapore.
The flag carried by Arthur Percival's party on the way to Bukit Timah was a witness to this reversal of fortunes, being flown when the Japanese formally surrendered Singapore back to Lord Louis Mountbatten.
Arthur Percival returned to the United Kingdom in September 1945 to write his despatch at the War Office but this was revised by the UK Government and published only in 1948.
Arthur Percival retired from the army in 1946 with the honorary rank of lieutenant-general but the pension of his substantive rank of major-general.
Arthur Percival continued his relationship with the Cheshire Regiment being appointed Colonel of the Cheshire Regiment between 1950 and 1955; an association continued by his son, Brigadier James Percival who became Colonel of the Regiment between 1992 and 1999.
Arthur Percival was respected for the time he had spent as a Japanese prisoner of war.
Arthur Percival led protests against the film The Bridge on the River Kwai when it was released in 1957, obtaining the addition of an on-screen statement that the movie was a work of fiction.
Arthur Percival worked as president of the Hertfordshire British Red Cross and was made an Officer of the Venerable Order of Saint John in 1964.
Arthur Percival died at the age of 78 on 31 January 1966, in King Edward VII's Hospital for Officers, Beaumont Street in Westminster, and is buried in the churchyard at Widford in Hertfordshire.
On 27 July 1927 Arthur Percival married Margaret Elizabeth "Betty" MacGregor Greer in Holy Trinity Church, Brompton.
Arthur Percival was the daughter of Thomas MacGregor Greer of Tallylagan Manor, a Protestant linen merchant from County Tyrone in Northern Ireland.