Francis Arthur Sutton

Sutton, Francis Arthur

Francis Arthur Sutton, "One-Arm," engineer, inventor, adventurer (b at Hylands, Eng 14 Feb 1884; d at Hong Kong 22 Oct 1944). As a young engineer Sutton built railways in Argentina and in Mexico prior to WWI. He lost his right hand at Gallipoli, becoming overnight a hero, "One-Arm Sutton," and more famous later as an inventor and designer of weapons. After searching for gold in Siberia (1919-20) he became adviser to Chinese warlords and was given the rank of general in the Chinese army. In 1927 he arrived in Canada and proposed the opening of the Peace River Country through a railway linking it with Vancouver and Edmonton. The scheme set off a period of speculation of which Sutton became the centre of publicity. His plans failed to materialize and his own heavy investment in Vancouver real estate was lost in the fallout from the Great Crash in 1929. He returned to China in 1931 as a war correspondent, moving later to Korea to engage in mining. He was expelled by the Japanese in 1941 and moved to Hong Kong where he died a prisoner of war. A champion golfer, he took his clubs everywhere - even to Gallipoli - marked as "Theodolite, Legs of."