Sergeant 12847, 2nd Battalion Cameronian (Scottish) Rifles
Arthur’s grandad, John, had been working in Armitage as a stonemason when the New Pottery was set up in 1852 and he quickly took a job as a potter. After the pottery folded in 1860 he worked as a labourer around the village for a while before finding work in Smethwick and then the Potteries. John’s children all worked in the pottery industry and his son, Arthur Edward, worked as a presser at Armitage for nearly 20 years becoming a star batsman in the village cricket team. He returned to the potteries in the late 1890s and worked with his brother, John Charles, and his nephew, the young Arthur.
The young Arthur decided to follow in his Uncle Arthur’s footsteps and moved to Armitage to work as a presser and boarded with the Waltho family at 6 Ricardia Terrace. When the pottery converted to casting in 1909 he became one of the first casters.
The records don’t show when he enlisted but the Cameronians were in some of the thickest fighting of the war including the Somme so it is likely that he saw a lot of fighting. Arthur was killed on 30th July 1917, the eve of the Battle of Passchendale. He is commemorated at the Bedford House Cemetery in Belgium. When the memorial service for William Bond was held at Armitage church Arthur was also remembered.
The 1911 census shows Arthur at Ricardia Terrace in Armitage along with the Hollins, Ratcliffe and of course the Waltho families. From that small terrace the village sent seventeen men to fight in the war and Arthur was one of four who were killed – the others were Benjamin Hollins, William Ratcliffe and Albert Waltho.