Artie Lockhart, who died on 13 December 1982 aged 80, was the last surviving of the 3rd Hussars Squadron Leaders at the beginning of the War.
Commissioned from Sandhurst in February 1923 and promoted to Captain in 1929 and Major at the beginning of the War, he trained “B” Squadron and commanded them in England and in the 1940 Wavell campaign in the Western Desert.
He had qualified for the Staff College in 1935 but unfortunately did not obtain a nomination.
In the Wavell campaign, his Squadron and “B” Squadron 2nd Royal Tanks were swapped so as to give 2nd Royal Tanks a reconnaissance squadron of light tanks and 3rd Hussars a squadron of gun-armed Cruiser tanks. Although this arrangement was not ideal, it provided a good start to the growing sense of mutual respect and liking between the Cavalry and Royal Tank Regiment.
For five months in 1941, Artie was commanding 3rd Hussars, first at Abbassia from where independent squadrons were hastily formed (“B” Squadron was still in Tobruk) and sent to the Desert and Crete and later in Cyprus where the Regiment, still less “B” Squadron reorganised and awaited the arrival of the new Colonel who was coming out from England. On his arrival, Artie reverted to 2nd-in-Command.
Artie was above all always young in heart and everyone’s friend. His twinkling sense of humour was always very close to the surface (for instance, he called his mongrel dog “Smith” because, although, of dubious parentage, he was a very nice dog and deserved a proper surname); a genuine ability to see and laugh uproariously at a joke against himself was most endearing; go to him for help and you could be sure of a patient and sympathetic hearing and a practical approach to your problem; these and many other intensely human qualities were his and endeared him to all.
Our sympathy goes out to Trixy, his wife for over 50 years, his two sons and daughter and his grandchildren. He will be sadly missed by them and by his legion of friends.
