| Granville Roland Fortescue | |
| Nickname: | "Rollie" |
| Birth Date: | 12 October 1875 |
| Birth Place: | New York City, US |
| Placeofburial: | Arlington National Cemetery |
| Placeofburial Label: | Place of burial |
| Allegiance: | United States of America |
| Branch: | United States Army |
| Serviceyears: | 1898–1906 1917–1928 |
| Rank: | Major |
| Unit: | 1st United States Volunteer Cavalry |
| Battles: | Spanish–American War
Philippine–American War |
| Awards: | Distinguished Service Cross Purple Heart Order of the Rising Sun (Japan) |
| Laterwork: | author, journalist |
| Relations: | Robert Roosevelt (father) Grace Hubbard Fortescue (wife) Thalia Massie (daughter) Helene Reynolds (daughter) Theodore Roosevelt (first cousin) |
Granville Roland Fortescue (October 12, 1875 – April 21, 1952) was an American soldier, a Rough Rider serving with his cousin, Colonel Theodore Roosevelt in Cuba, a presidential aide in the first Roosevelt administration and later, a journalist and war correspondent for the London Standard during the Rif War in 1920 Spanish Morocco. He wrote for the London Daily Telegraph during World War I[1] and during the Spanish Civil War.[2]
Fortescue was the son of U.S. Congressman Robert Roosevelt (1829–1906),[3] and Marion Theresa "Minnie" O'Shea Fortescue, his mistress. At the time of his birth, his father was still married to his first wife, Elizabeth Ellis. After Ellis' death, Robert married Minnie. His father then adopted the three children that he had conceived with Minnie before their marriage, Granville, Kenyon, and Maud, and they were known as his stepchildren, although they were his biological children.[4] At the time of their birth, their father had been listed as "Robert Francis Fortescue," and all maintained the Fortescue name throughout their lives, even though they were born to Robert Roosevelt.[5]
His father, Robert Roosevelt, was the brother of Theodore Roosevelt, Sr., the uncle of President Theodore Roosevelt and the great-uncle of Eleanor Roosevelt.[3]
Fortescue's undergraduate education began at Yale College; then he transferred to the University of Pennsylvania. His college years were cut short when he volunteered in 1898 for the 1st United States Volunteer Cavalry.[4] He completed his education when he graduated from the Army Staff College in 1904.[6]
Fortescue was a Rough Rider wounded at San Juan Hill in Cuba and serving in the Philippines during the Spanish–American War.[1]
Fortescue was posted as a U.S. military attaché in Japan during the Russo-Japanese War.[1] Along with other Western military attachés, he had two complementary missions—to assist the Japanese and to observe the Japanese forces in the field during the Russo-Japanese War.[7] Service as an artillery officer during World War I was the capstone of Fortescue's military career.[1]
In 1910, Captain "Rolly" Fortescue married Grace Hubbard Fortescue (née Grace Hubbard Bell) (1883–1979), a niece of the inventor Alexander Graham Bell and an heir to the Bell Telephone Company fortune. The wedding party included Captain Archibald Butt, who served with the groom in the White House as a Presidential aide.[8] The couple had three daughters:
The couple's eldest daughter, Thalia Massie, was allegedly raped in 1932, and this embroiled her mother, Grace Fortescue, in a case of murder. The trial for murder, conducted in Hawaii in 1932, came to be known as the "Massie Affair". Afterwards, Grace returned to a quiet life with her husband as they moved seasonally between family homes on Long Island and in Palm Beach.
Fortescue died on April 21, 1952, and was laid to rest in Arlington National Cemetery,[11] the only Roosevelt to be buried there.[4]
His journalism experience led to further writing: