Editing Basil Rathbone (section)

==Military service==
During the First World War (in 1915), Rathbone was called up via the [[Derby Scheme]] into the British Army as a private with the [[London Scottish Regiment]], joining a regiment that also included his future professional acting contemporaries [[Claude Rains]], [[Herbert Marshall]] and [[Ronald Colman]] at different points during the conflict. After basic training with the London Scots in early 1916, he received a commission as a lieutenant in the 2/10th Battalion of the King's Liverpool Regiment ([[Liverpool Scottish]]), where he served as an intelligence officer, eventually attaining the rank of [[Captain (British Army and Royal Marines)|captain]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.basilrathbone.net/biography/basilrathbonefront.jpg|title=Rathbone, intelligence officer, with the Liverpool Scottish|website=basilrathbone.net|accessdate=12 May 2024}}</ref> 

Rathbone was a two-time British Army Fencing Champion; a skill that served him well in the movies, it allowed him to teach swordsmanship to actors [[Errol Flynn]] and [[Tyrone Power]].

Rathbone was deeply affected by the news that his younger brother John, a captain in the [[Dorsetshire Regiment]], had been killed in action near [[Arras]] on 4 June 1918.<ref>"Famous 1914–18," Richard Van Emden, 2010, p. 132</ref> In 2012 two letters Rathbone wrote to his family while he was serving on the [[Western Front (World War I)|Western Front]] were published. One reveals the anguish and anger he felt following the death of John:

<blockquote>I want to tell him to mind his place. I think of his ridiculous belief that everything would always be well, his ever-hopeful smile, and I want to cuff him for a little fool. He had no business to let it happen and it maddens me that I shall never be able to tell him so, or change it or bring him back. I can't think of him without being consumed with anger at him for being dead and beyond anything I can do to him.
:— 26 July 1918<ref name="army">{{cite web|url=http://www.basilrathbone.net/biography/ww1.htm |title=Basil Rathbone, Master of Stage and Screen: The Great War |publisher=Basilrathbone.net |access-date=2014-08-23}}</ref></blockquote>

Following his brother's death, Rathbone appears to have become unconcerned about the dangers of serving at the front. [[Richard Van Emden]] in ''Famous 1914–18'' speculates that his extreme bravery may have been a form of guilt or a need for vengeance.<ref>''Famous 1914–18'', Richard Van Emden, 2010, p. 134</ref> He persuaded his superiors to allow him to scout enemy positions during daylight rather than at night, as was the usual practice to minimise the chance of detection.<ref>{{YouTube|g2Fl8zYO9u8|title=A 1957 interview with Basil Rathbone talking about WWI}}</ref> Rathbone wore a special camouflage suit that resembled a tree with a wreath of freshly plucked foliage on his head, and with burnt cork applied to his hands and face.<ref>''In and Out of Character'', Basil Rathbone, 1962, p. 2</ref> As a result of these highly dangerous daylight reconnaissance missions in September 1918 he was awarded the [[Military Cross]] for "conspicuous daring and resource on patrol".<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=30997 |supp=y |date=5 November 1918 |page=13166}}</ref>