Arthur William Page

Arthur was born in Lewes on 02/06/1899 and baptised at St John sub Castro on 06/08/1899. He was the eldest son of John and Elizabeth Page nee Jenner. His father John was a house painter and at Arthur’s birth the family were living at 29 Paddock Road.
By 1901 they had moved to number 14. Ten years later they were living at 28 Sun Street and Arthur had three brothers. A sister was born in 1913.

After leaving school Arthur worked for two years for the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway. He started on 19/07/1915 as a temporary porter at the Lewes Goods Yard earning 18/- (90p) per week. Two years later he was still listed as a temporary porter but received a pay increase of 1/- (5p) per week.

Badge of the Rifle Brigade
as depicted on a CWGC headstone.

Arthur’s army papers are not available to view but from other sources we know that he enlisted as a rifleman in the 1st Battalion the Rifle Brigade and was numbered 46310. This number was issued very late in the war and probably relates to an enlistment towards the end of 1917 or beginning of 1918.

A period of training would have followed his enlistment, and he arrived in France on or about 02/04/1918. The Rifle Brigade were then fighting on the Somme and it is likely that Arthur formed part of reinforcements sent to France following the 1st and 2nd battles of the Somme.

The local paper records that he was killed after just 20 days service in France. He was killed in action on 22/04/1918 but has no known grave. He is remembered on panel 129 of the Loos Memorial, the St John sub Castro Memorial and the Lewes War Memorial. He had named his mother as his next of kin and his 2 medals, the War and Victory medals, were sent to her.
A memorial to the 530 fallen who worked for the LBSCR was unveiled at Brighton Station in October 1921, and Arthur’s name appears on it.