Lieutenant-Colonel Arthur Johnston was the eldest son of the late John
Johnston, of Clare, in the County of Tyrone, Esq., whose ancestor (of
the ancient house of Loverpay, a branch of the Annandale family) left
Dumfriesshire in the beginning of the seventeenth century, and
purchased considerable estates in the Counties of Tyrone and Fermanagh.
Colonel Johnston, the subject of this Narrative, was born in 1778, and
when very young received his Ensign's and Lieutenant's commissions in
the 19th Regiment, and accompanied that corps to Ceylon, where he early
attracted the attention of the Governor of the Island, and was placed
on his Staff.
His command of a detachment of his regiment to Kandy in 1804 is still
spoken of in Ceylon with admiration. Major Forbes, in his work on
Ceylon, recently published, makes frequent mention of it, and
says--"That the gallantry of Captain Johnston and his party taught the
Kandians a respect for British troops which they had not felt before,
and afterwards reluctantly admitted; and that one of the chiefs, who
harassed Captain Johnston's retreat, assured _him_ that the commander
of that party must have been in alliance with supernatural powers. His
personal escape while passing through such a continual ambush, and his
superior judgment and energy, were unaccountable, unless this
explanation were admitted."
His naturally fine constitution, however, never recovered the effects
of that severe and trying expedition, and he was shortly obliged to
return to Europe; soon after which, he joined the senior department of
the Royal Military College at Wickham as student, and was selected by
the Commandant to act for him during his absence in Spain. On the
return of Sir Howard Douglass, he was made Assistant-Commandant--a
situation which he held till the conclusion of the war; and when
inquiries were started as to what retrenchment could be made in that
department, he suggested that his appointment could better be dispensed
with than many others.
He married Martha, eldest daughter of Thomas Smith, of Shalden, in
Hampshire, Esq. He died and was buried at Shalden, in June, 1824.