| Date of birth: | July 1884 |
| Place of birth: | Singapore |
| Service No.: | 3/5311 |
| Rank: | Private |
| Regiment / Division: | Hampshire |
| Battalion: | 2nd |
| Died: | 9th August 1916 aged 32 years |
| Death location: | Potijze Burial Ground Cemetery, Belgium |
Life before the War
Arthur was the second of 10 siblings born to James Arthur Page and Louisa Mary Page (nee Lynch).
James was born in Little Bentley, Essex in 1853. He appears to have spent much of his youth in Essex before travelling overseas in April 1881. He married Mary in India in the same year and their first child was born in Singapore on 23rd April 1883.
James joined the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers, as a Sergeant Major, on 11 April 1885.
Arthur’s 9 siblings were:
| Florence | b. 23.4.1883 in Singapore; d. 28.8.1915 in Southampton. Married Robert Ross-White in St James Church, Shirley on 25.8.1909. They had 2 daughters. |
| xxxxx | xxxxx |
| Laura | b. 1885 in Singapore; d. unknown but was in Cape Town in 1915. |
| xxxxx | xxxxx |
| Cyril | b. 1887/1888 in Cape Town; d. 5.12.1917 in France. To read more of Cyril’s story select the link to his name. |
| xxxxx | xxxxx |
| Percival Edmund | b. 5.11.1889 in Portsmouth; d. 1978 in Southampton. |
| xxxxx | xxxxx |
| Gertrude Lilian | b. 9.6.1891 in Omagh; d.22.3.1976 in Southampton. Married Robert Ross-White (her sister’s widower) June 1916 in Southampton. They had one son. |
| xxxxx | xxxxx |
| Gladys Irene | b. 1893 in Omagh; d. unknown but living in Southampton in 1918. |
| xxxxx | xxxxx |
| Harold Noel | b. June 1896 in Omagh; d. 1942 in Wellington, New South Wales. |
| xxxxx | xxxxx |
| Ernest | b. 1899 in Durban, South Africa; d. 21.3.1918. To read more of Ernest’s story select the link to his name. |
| xxxxx | xxxxx |
| Violet Dorothy | b. January 1901 in Southampton; d. July 1901. |
There are very few records of Arthur’s short life. It can be assumed he spent his early childhood in Singapore before the two parents and three children born there set sail for the UK.
The family (plus baby Cyril) were probably based in Portsmouth from late 1888, although some records show Arthur as living at some point in Winchester.
War Service
Arthur joined his father’s regiment (Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers) as a 15 year old on 7th October 1899.
Information is in short supply as to his life from 1899 until the outbreak of war, although he almost certainly was living in Co. Westmeath with the rest of the family from 1901
He went to war as a member of the 2nd Battalion Hampshire Regiment and fought in Northern France and Belgium.
In April 1915 Arthur was awarded the 1914-1915 Star, the British War Medal and the Victory Medal. Interestingly, records show the Victory Medal having been returned to his family by police having been “found” on 25 October 1922.
Arthur was one of 113 Hampshire’s who died on 9th August 1916. The regiment had been working on defences behind the front lines, near the town of Potijze near Ypres. A phosgene gas attack by the Germans on the night of 8th August resulted in a large gas cloud drifting behind the lines.
Plan for the Potijze Burial Ground.
Arthur’s headstone.
He is buried in the Potijze Burial Ground cemetery. He shares a
headstone with a 19 year old Private from the same regiment who
died on the same day- Ernest William Wynn.
Each of the 17 stones is touching its neighbour, another
indication of a mass grave.
Arthur’s brother Percival is on record as organising the
inscription on Arthur’s gravestone….
“ He Died That Others Might Live.”
| Researcher: | Mark Heritage |
| Published.: | 1st August 2014 |
| Updated: | Insert dates here |
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