Arthur missing, presumed dead

ACCORDING to Macclesfield Reflects the following is known about Arthur Simpson:

Arthur was born on September 30, 1894, to parents Elizabeth and William Simpson, a butcher.

He was baptised at Christ Church and by 1901 was living at 72 Chestergate, Macclesfield, with his parents and three-yearold sister Edith.

Arthur went to Mill Street Wesleyan Day school, then the Modern School, later part of Macclesfield Grammar School.

He was an accomplished sportsman, winning first prize at the annual swimming gala held at the Corporation Baths, and he played with Macclesfield Cricket Club.

In 1911 the family also included Frank, 18, and Doris, nine. Arthur was working as an architect’s clerk at the office of Messrs. Whittaker and Bradburn, King Edward Street. He later went to Manchester to train as a surveyor.

On the outbreak of war, Arthur enlisted in Manchester with the Royal Fusiliers (Public Schools Battalion). He was drafted to France on November 15, 1915.

He saw action at the start of the Battle of the Somme and was reported missing after he was last seen on July 20, 1916 and was recorded as presumed dead in May 1917.

He has no known grave but is named at the Thiepval Memorial in France and is commemorated on the Park Green, Town Hall, Christ Church School and King’s School war memorials.

Arthur’s brother Frank also served in the war and returned home to marry Alice Bell in 1922. He later took over his father’s butchery and had a daughter, Kathleen.

Edith Simpson married Arthur Hobson and lived in Chester Road with their daughter, Peggy.

Doris Simpson lived in Great King Street with her widowed father after he retired, and died unmarried in 1949.