Arthur James Hucklesby was born on Monday, 28th June 1897 in Harpenden, Hertfordshire and baptised along with his younger brother Stanley on Sunday, 30th March 1902. He was the older of two sons born to George Hucklesby and Eliza Oakley, but he had seven half siblings who were from his father’s first marriage to Eliza Munt. Arthur’s brothers and sisters were: William, Charles, Emma, Jane, George, Henry and Elizabeth. The youngest of his half-sisters was thirty years older than Arthur and the five oldest children where older than their step-mother. His father George died in 1907 aged seventy-eight when Arthur was ten years old.

The family lived in Harpenden when both Arthur and his brother Stanley were born, but moved to Hemel Hempstead after their father’s death. Arthur lived with his mother and brother in Paradise, Hemel Hempstead and it was from here that he went to his new school, Boxmoor JMI, in 1909.

He left school a year later aged thirteen, to start work with G.B. Kent and Sons the Brush makers in Apsley but left their employ shortly afterwards and entered the Navy. His time with the Navy was short however, and by 1913 he had joined John Dickinson & Co. Limited in Apsley Mills where he would remain until joining the Army.

On the outbreak of war, Arthur was still too young to enlist, nevertheless he attested at Hertford and joined the 3rd Battalion Hertfordshire Regiment on the 9th January 1916 when he was aged just seventeen years and seven months old. On enlistment he was "5ft 3¾ins tall with a 32½ inch chest" but still considered fit for military service.

He spent the next year training and on home defence duties before transferring, on the 9th August 1916, to the 6th (Reserve) Battalion Northumbrian Fusiliers when he was eligible for overseas service. He went to France on the 30th August with his new Regiment.

Only nine days after disembarking in France he transferred battalions again, this time to the 1/4th Battalion (Hallamshire) York and Lancaster Regiment which was under the orders of the 148th Brigade in the 49th (West Riding) Division. Almost immediately after joining his Battalion, Arthur saw significant action in the Battle of Flers-Courcelette and through October and November 1916 he fought in the last phase of the Somme offensive at Morval, Thiepval, Transloy and Ancre.

The following February the Battalion was at Bellacourt approximately six miles south west of Arras and during a few ‘quiet’ days at the start of the month, Arthur was wounded in the neck by machine gun fire. He sustained his wounds on the 3rd February and despite being evacuated down the line for treatment, he sadly did not recover.

Arthur died of his wounds on Sunday, 11th February 1917.

On the 9th February Arthur’s sister Elizabeth received a telegram reporting that he was dangerously ill after being wounded. Three days later she telegrammed the Regiment seeking news of his condition and later the same afternoon she received the tragic news of his death.

Arthur was commemorated on the John Dickinson & Co. Limited War Memorial in Apsley.

Arthur is Remembered with Honour in Warlincourt Halte British Cemetery, Saulty, Pas-de-Calais, France, where he is interred in Grave IV. J. 5.

He was only 19 years old when he died.

Arthur was entitled to the British War Medal and the Allied Victory Medal.