Granville Roland Fortescue

Granville Roland Fortescue

G. Roland Fortescue
Nickname(s) "Rollie"
Born (1875-10-12)October 12, 1875
New York City
Died April 21, 1952(1952-04-21) (aged 76)
Place of burial Arlington National Cemetery
Allegiance United States of America
Service/branch 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:

Honors

Family tree

See also

Notes

  1. 1 2 3 4 Spinzia, Raymond E. (2006). Long Island's Prominent North Shore Families: Their Estates And Their Country Homes, sample excerpt, p. 2.
  2. ↑ Price, Warren C. (1999). Literature of Journalism, p. 90.
  3. ↑ "Roosevelt, Robert Barnwell." Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
  4. 1 2 3 4 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.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 Renehan, Edward J. "A Secret Roosevelt," History News Network. February 22, 2003.
  6. ↑ "Society at Home and Abroad: The Fortescue-Bell Wedding in Washington," New York Times. May 29, 1910.
  7. ↑ 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).
  8. 1 2 3 Arlington National Cemetery: Granville Roland Fortescue
  9. ↑ New York Public Library. (1915). Bulletin of the New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations, v.19 no.2, p. 618.

References

External links

Granville Roland Fortescue at Find a Grave

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Thursday, April 14, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.