When the 1901 Census was taken, Arthur was living with his family at Banbury Road, Southam, Warwickshire. He was the eldest child of Henry and Elizabeth and the Census records his younger siblings as Emily, Harry, May and George.

It's not known when he moved to the Reddish area but, by the time of the Great War, he was working at the local branch of Seymour Meads at 463 Gorton Road. The Company was a large firm of grocers in the Manchester area and Arthur is commemorated on its entry in the Manchester City Battalions Book of Honour. In November of 1914, he travelled into Manchester and joined the army, enlisting into the 21^st Battalion. This was the sixth of the "Pals Battalions" formed by the Manchester Regiment that autumn and he was assigned to No. 6 Platoon, "B" Company. Some details of the Pals recruitment and training will be found here.

Whilst still in training, he married his fiancée, Ada Ethel Holliday, at St Agnes' Church, North Reddish. This was in the late spring of 1915. In November, Arthur and his comrades went overseas to France on active service. He was killed on the first day of the Battle of the Somme.

After the War, when the War Graves Commission collated its casualty information, Ada was living at 21 Tindall Street, Reddish.