board, and in the action of 14 July 1795 (see Battle of Hyères Islands) McArthur volunteered to observe the signals, in place of the admiral's secretary. He was later secretary to Sir Hyde Parker, and returned to England with him early in 1796. Later life In 1803, when Lord Nelson was going out to the Mediterranean, he offered to take McArthur as his secretary. McArthur, however, declined, because Lord Hood's accounts were being audited. This was perhaps a pretext, however, since he was by then committed to writing. On 22 July 1806 the university of Edinburgh conferred on him the degree of LL.D. He was at this time living in London, in York Place, Portman Square. Later he settled at Hayfield near Warblington in Hampshire, where he died 29 July 1840. Works McArthur's major literary work, with James Stanier Clarke, was the Life of Lord Nelson, 1809, 2 vols. In 1799, also with Clarke, he founded the monthly Naval Chronicle, which ran to forty half-yearly volumes; it was mainly devoted to current naval matters, and biographical notes of the leading naval officers of the day, who often supplied material themselves. So far as it treats of contemporary events or persons, it is of very high authority. Other works were: The Army and Navy Gentleman's Companion, or a new and complete Treatise on the Theory and Practice of Fencing (1780). A Treatise of the Principles and Practice of Naval Courts-martial (1792), second edition Principles and Practice of Naval and Military Courts-martial (1805, 2 vols.) which became a standard work. Financial and Political Facts of the Eighteenth Century (1801), several editions. A Translation from the Italian of the Abbé Cesarotti's Historical and Critical Dissertation respecting the Controversy on the Authenticity of Ossian's Poems: with Notes and Observations by the Translator (1806), in which he described himself as one of the committee of the Highland Society of London appointed to superintend the publication of Ossian in the original Scottish Gaelic. Family McArthur left a widow and, apparently, a daughter, Mrs. Conway. Notes Attribution 1755 births 1840 deaths British biographers British male journalists Royal Navy officers People from the Borough of Havant Male biographers