Granville Roland Fortescue
Granville Roland Fortescue | |
|---|---|
 G. Roland Fortescue | |
| Nickname(s) | "Rollie" |
| Born | October 12, 1875 New York City |
| Died | April 21, 1952 (aged 76) |
| Place of burial | |
| Allegiance | United States of America |
| Service/ | United States Army |
| Years of service | 1898–1906 1917–1928 |
| Rank | Major |
| Unit | 1st United States Volunteer Cavalry |
| Battles/wars | Spanish–American War
Philippine–American War Russo-Japanese War (military attaché) World War I Rif War {Correspondent} Spanish Civil War (correspondent) |
| Awards | Distinguished Service Cross Purple Heart Order of the Rising Sun (Japan) |
| Relations | Robert Roosevelt (father) Grace Hubbard Fortescue (wife) Thalia Massie (daughter) Helene Reynolds (daughter) Theodore Roosevelt (first cousin) |
| Other work | author, journalist |
Granville Roland Fortescue (October 12, 1875 – April 21, 1952) was an American soldier, a Rough Rider serving with his cousin, Colonel Theodore Roosevelt in Cuba, a presidential aide in the first Roosevelt administration and later, a journalist and war correspondent for the London Standard during the Rif War in 1920 Spanish Morocco. He wrote for the London Daily Telegraph during World War I[1] and during the Spanish Civil War.[2]
Family
Fortescue was the son of U.S. Congressman Robert Roosevelt (1829–1906),[3] who was the brother of Theodore Roosevelt, Sr., the uncle of President Theodore Roosevelt and the great-uncle of Eleanor Roosevelt. Roosevelt married his mistress, Marion Theresa "Minnie" O'Shea Fortescue, after the death of his first wife. He then adopted the three children conceived before the marriage, Granville, Kenyon, and Maud.[4]
Fortescue's undergraduate education began at Yale College; then he transferred to the University of Pennsylvania. His college years were cut short when he volunteered in 1898 for the 1st United States Volunteer Cavalry.[4] He completed his education when he graduated from the Army Staff College in 1904.[5]
In 1910, Captain "Rolly" Fortescue married Grace Hubbard Fortescue (née Grace Hubbard Bell) (1883–1979), a niece of the inventor Alexander Graham Bell and an heir to the Bell Telephone Company fortune. The wedding party included Captain Archibald Butt, who served with the groom in the White House as a Presidential aide.[6]
The couple had three daughters. An alleged rape of daughter Thalia Massie embroiled his wife in the 1932 murder trial in Hawaii, known as the "Massie Affair". Afterwards, she returned to a quiet life with her husband as they moved seasonally between family homes on Long Island and in Palm Beach. Another daughter took the stage name of Helene Whitney (1914–1990) as an actress.
Career
Fortescue was a Rough Rider wounded at San Juan Hill in Cuba and serving in the Philippines during the Spanish–American War.[1]
Fortescue was posted as a U.S. military attaché in Japan during the Russo-Japanese War.[1] Along with other Western military attachés, he had two complementary missions—to assist the Japanese and to observe the Japanese forces in the field during the Russo-Japanese War.[7]
Service as an artillery officer during World War I was the capstone of Fortescue's military career.[1]
Captain Fortescue's final resting place is in Arlington National Cemetery,[8] the only Roosevelt to be buried there.[4]
Selected work
His journalism experience led to further writing:
- 1914 – At the Front with Three Allies: My Adventures in the Great War. London: A. Melrose, Ltd.[9]
- 1915 – Russia, the Balkans and the Dardanelles. London: A. Melrose, Ltd. OCLC: 1562062
- 1915 – What of the Dardanelles? An Analysis. London: Hodder and Stoughton. OCLC: 2736904
- 1916 – Fore-armed: How to Build a Citizen Army. Philadelphia: John C. Winston Co. OCLC: 406647
- 1917 – France Bears the Burden. New York: Macmillan. OCLC: 1183757
- 1937 – Front Line and Deadline: The Experiences of a War Correspondent. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons. OCLC: 987696
Honors
- Purple Heart, wounded in foot at San Juan Hill, Cuba, July 1898; wounded at Montfaucon d'Argonne in the Meuse-Argonne Offensive, September 1918.[5]
- Distinguished Service Cross.[5]
- World War I Victory Medal[4]
- Spanish Campaign Medal[5]
- Philippine Insurrection War Medal[5]
- Order of the Rising Sun, Japan.[8]
- Russo-Japanese War Medal, Japan.[8]
Family tree
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See also
Notes
- ^ a b c d Spinzia, Raymond E. (2006). Long Island's Prominent North Shore Families: Their Estates And Their Country Homes, sample excerpt, p. 2.
- ^ Price, Warren C. (1999). Literature of Journalism, p. 90.
- ^ "Roosevelt, Robert Barnwell." Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
- ^ a b c d Spinzia, Raymond E. "These Other Roosevelts: The Fortescues," Oyster Bay Historical Society Freeholder Magazine. 2006; "Robert B. Roosevelt's Will; Testator's Three Children Inherit Most of the Large Estate," New York Times. June 20, 1906.
- ^ a b c d e Renehan, Edward J. "A Secret Roosevelt," History News Network. February 22, 2003.
- ^ "Society at Home and Abroad: The Fortescue-Bell Wedding in Washington," New York Times. May 29, 1910.
- ^ Chapman, John and Ian Nish. (2004). "On the Periphery of the Russo-Japanese War," Part I, p. 53 n42, Paper No. IS/2004/475. Suntory Toyota International Centre for Economics and Related Disciplines (STICERD), London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE).
- ^ a b c Arlington National Cemetery: Granville Roland Fortescue
- ^ New York Public Library. (1915). Bulletin of the New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations, v.19 no.2, p. 618.
References
- Spinzia, Raymond E. and Judith A. Spinzia. (2006). Long Island's Prominent North Shore Families: Their Estates And Their Country Homes. College Station, Texas: Virtualbookworm. ISBN 978-1-58939-785-9; ISBN 978-1-58939-786-6 OCLC: 74029682
- Stannard, David. "The Massie case: Injustice and courage," The Honolulu Advertiser. October 14, 2001.
External links
- 1905 Biographical Sketch
- PBS American Experience: "The Massie Affair".
- Granville Roland Fortescue at Find a Grave
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Other | |
- 1875 births
- 1952 deaths
- People from Manhattan
- Roosevelt family
- Recipients of the Distinguished Service Cross (United States)
- Burials at Arlington National Cemetery
- United States Army Command and General Staff College alumni
- People of the Russo-Japanese War
- Recipients of the Order of the Rising Sun
- American war correspondents
- Recipients of the Purple Heart medal