Arthur Duvernoix Houghton (June 8, 1870 - January 23, 1938) was a medical doctor, a botanist specializing in cacti, a member of the Los Angeles, California, City Council from 1904 to 1906 and one of the founders of the American Legion.

Houghton was born in London, England, on June 8, 1871, and was educated at Oxford University and the Royal Military School of Engineers.

He lived in Chicago, Illinois, where he was secretary of the South Side Business Men's League, and he was said to be in Los Angeles in November 1894, when he conducted seances in that city.

[1][2][3][4][5] Houghton played the role of Doctor Caius, a French physician, in a benefit Los Angeles performance of William Shakespeare's The Merry Wives of Windsor in April 1904.

[10] He died on January 23, 1938, after being stricken on the train as he was returning to California from a trip to New York with others in a successful bid to have the 1938 American Legion convention held in Los Angeles.

His body lay in state in the rotunda of the Los Angeles City Hall, guarded by a phalanx of American Legionnaires; services were held at St. Paul's Episcopal Cathedral and private cremation followed.

He was author of The Cactus Book, published in 1931 by the Macmillan Company[2] He was said to have discovered a "purple orange" in 1911, and he "boasted he was one of the few persons who could grow orchids in an open flower bed.

In Los Angeles, his collection was a notable one, valued at $20,000 in 1906, with specimens of 800 varieties from "inaccessible deserts," from "Argentina, Patagonia, Mexico and other places.

[14] In 1929 Houghton was president of the Cactus Society of America[15] Ciry Councilman James P. Davenport, a Republican, was recalled by the voters on September 16, 1904, because he had voted in favor of a city printing contract awarded to the Los Angeles Times even though the Times' bid was $10,000 higher than its nearest competitor.

[22] Shortly after he was elected, Houghton told a reporter he supported the ideas of Herbert Spencer, the prominent classical liberal political theorist of the Victorian era, and he said that he was "in favor of less grade crossings and more statues.

[23] The Times questioned whether Houghton had ever become a U.S. citizen, and after the September election it hired a Chicago firm to check the records in that city.

"[24] The Examiner, however, was able to produce a telegram from Chicago verifying that Arthur Howton, as the name was spelled, "took out his naturalization papers on March 31, 1892."

[31] On September 22, 1904, the Times published a story alleging that "Arthur Howton" had moved from Chicago to San Francisco during the California Midwinter International Exposition of 1894 and took work as an electrical wireman.

The Times quoted articles from the San Francisco Examiner and the San Francisco Call, published on February 28, 1894, stating that Howton had attempted suicide by swallowing morphine and that authorities had discovered a note he had written expressing anguish over his unreturned love for a woman, The Times said Howton had then come to Los Angeles where he was "ordained a minister in the Spiritualist church and in little more than a week .

[32] The Times continued: In 1902 he came to Los Angeles and commenced to practice medicine without the formality of taking out a physician's certificate.

[38] In September 1917, Houghton was appointed by Receiving Hospital Director John B. Gilmer to oversee the medical facilities at the city jail.

"The crowd was largely composed of persons who had followed the Socialist speakers from Seventh and Main strets [sic] when it was found that speaking at that point would seriously interfere with the movement of street car traffic.

I believe the safety of the republic and the welfare of the nation demands that the principal of freedom of speech and of the press be held sacred.

[42] In June 1918 he helped begin a move to compel all British subjects between the ages of 18 and 50 "to enlist for service abroad," except for those "supporting dependents."

[2] Houghton was "the star witness" in the 1920 trial of Sydney R. Flowers, who was charged in a Los Angeles court with criminal syndicalism.