He entered the British Army on 14 April 1795 and was posted to the
11th Hussars as an assistant surgeon. Arnott was promoted to surgeon on 23 August 1799. He followed his unit to
Holland and was present at the storming of the
entrenchments at
Krabbendam. He was later transferred to the
20th Regiment of Foot at
Menorca and was present at the
storming of Alexandria. He continued to serve with the 20th Regiment at
Malta,
Sicily and
Calabria and was present at the
Battle of Maida. He continued to serve with the 20th Regiment at the
Vimiera and in the retreat from the
Battle of Corunna. He followed his unit in the
Walcheren expedition where his
military unit was decimated by fever. In 1812 Arnott served with the
Duke of Wellington in his campaigns until the end of the war, including the
Battle of Vittoria, in the
Pyrenees and in
India. Foundation. As the fourth and last of Napoleon's physicians on St. Helena, Arnott arrived, following his regiment in 1819, and on 21 April 1821 visited Napoleon in his professional capacity. He quickly established excellent relations with the Emperor, becoming his most trusted doctor, and attended to him until his death. The Emperor was bedridden for some days as a result of persistent
vomiting and Arnott
prescribed potions, with no initial results, eventually prescribing a
sedative generally thought to be
opium, which relieved the Emperor's symptoms. On 3 May, Arnott prescribed
calomel for the Emperor's constipation with good results. Prior to his death, Napoleon ordered a
snuff box brought to him and carved an "N" with a
pen knife and presented it to Dr. Arnott, along with a locket of his hair, a pair of duelling pistols and a handkerchief. The snuff box was last known to be in the possession of
Alan Cunningham, a British Army officer. The pistols are in the collection of the Small Firearms Museum,
Warminster, Wiltshire. During the night following the Emperor's death, Arnott took a death mask made from surgical wax (as no gypsum was available on the island) and inscribed it with his signature and the date 6 Mai 1821. This is now in the collection of the Musée Masséna in Nice, France. On 3 May 1821 Napoleon gave instructions that should he become insensible, no English physician but Arnott was to touch him. Napoleon died on 5 May 1821, and Arnott attended his
post-mortem examination. The Emperor
bequeathed Arnott six hundred
Napoleons and the British government gave him an additional payment of five hundred
pounds. ==Writings==