Granville Roland Fortescue

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 and during the Spanish Civil War. Early life and education Fortescue was the son of U.S. Congressman Robert Roosevelt (1829–1906), 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. 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. His father, Robert Roosevelt, was the brother of Theodore Roosevelt, Sr., the uncle of President Theodore Roosevelt and the great-uncle of Eleanor Roosevelt. 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. He completed his education when he graduated from the Army Staff College in 1904.