The eldest son of a Charles Brown who ran Browns store (see scrapbook section) in the High St in West Cowes (where Sainsbury’s is now), Arthur crossed the Solent to study civil engineering at the local Hartley College and combined this with keeping goal, as an amateur, for Hampshire. His initial spell at The Dell lasted only three months and included but one run-out for the Reserves. Whereupon he moved to Portsmouth. He returned to Southampton, via his home-town club, and became the main man in goal for the next season and a half while working for South West Railway Docks and commuting from Cowes.

His outstanding performances caught the eye of the amateur international selectors,

so that, although never selected for his country, he was the reserve goalkeeper for the 1912 British Olympic team in Stockholm. That was as good as it got football-wise. He emigrated to Canada in 1913 where he worked as a civil engineer on a £6m dock scheme in Halifax, Nova Scotia, which afforded him sporting opportunities at the Wanderers, a club for all codes and all seasons. After more than a decade, he returned to England for a while but then, towards the end of the 1920s moved to Singapore where he became the agent for Sir John Jackson Ltd building in the Naval Dockyard.

In 1932 and aged only 44, he suffered a bout of malaria but was showing signs of recovery when suddenly he died, an event so unexpected many attributed it to a curse initiated when a holy tree, the locals had refused to touch, was summarily cut down during dockyard construction. Over the next 11 months there were many more deaths from malaria including the general manager and Arthur’s deputy. Arthur had married in 1915 and fathered two daughters while the family were in Canada, one of whom celebrated her 100th birthday in 2021.