Lieutenant, 1st Battalion Gloucestershire Regiment.
Died 1st November 1918, age 36.
Buried at Highland Cemetery, France.
Former student of english language and literature.
Arthur was the son of Reverand T.R. Skemp. He was born on 11th July 1882 at Barton upon Irwell, Eccles and attended Douglas Secondary School, Isle of Man. He entered Manchester University in 1901, graduated with a B.A. in 1904, gained a scholarhip the same year, the Faulkner Fellowship in Arts 1905 and an M.A. in 1907. He was a lecturer at Manchester School of Technology (1904-05), and then moved to a post at the University of Strassburg in 1906. He then returned to the UK and taught at Sheffield University before becoming Professor of English at Bristol University in 1910 where he rapidly established a wide popularity through the giving of public lecture.
Arthur was gazetted in July 1916 and despite keenly wanting to serve abroad was appointed an instructor at 3rd Officer Cadet Battalion due to his excellent teaching skills. On 23rd October 1918 he was finally sent to France, and was killed just 9 days later near Cambrai while his battalion was repelling an enemy attack. He left a widow, Jessie, whom he had married in 1909, and two small children. His epitaph is “I was ever a fighter, so – one fight more, The best and the last” which is from a poem by Robert Browning about whom Arthur had written a book.