Arthur was born on 10th February 1876 to Maria Reeve, the second of four children. His mother had registered the three boys and one girl with their father’s surname but it seems the couple were unmarried. By the 1881 census, Arthur was 6 years old, living in a street called California in the Wickham Market ward of Woodbridge. With him lived his mother, Grandmother, three brothers, baby sister and step father, William Keeble. It is not known what happened to Arthur’s birth father.
10 years followed on to the 1891 census - the family still lived at California, the size of the Keeble/Jarvis family had increased by 4 more children and Arthur worked as an Agricultural Labourer.
He joined the Navy on 25th September 1893 as a Boy 2nd Class. His statistics were noted as being 5’6” tall, with dark brown hair and hazel eyes. He had several tattoos - a woman, true love, heart & bracelet on his left arm; a rose on the back of his left hand; a tree, snake and bracelet on his right arm and a ring on his 2nd right finger.
His service history follows: -
IMPREGNABLE - 25/09/1893 - 02/10/1893
LION - 03/10/1893 - 13/11/1894, rising to Boy 1st Class on 16/08/1894
BOSCAWEN - 14/11/1894 - 26/02/1895
PEMBROKE I - 27/02/1895 - 02/05/1895
MERSEY - 03/05/1895 - 28/08/1895
PEMBROKE I - 29/08/1895 - 30/09/1895
RODNEY - 01/10/1895 - 31/03/1896, rising to Ordinary Seaman on 10th February 1896
CRUISER - 01/04/1896 - 31/08/1896
RODNEY - 01/09/1896 - 21/09/1897, rising to Able Seaman on 07/04/1897
PEMBROKE I - 22/09/1897 - 04/01/1898
WILDFIRE - 05/01/1898 - 09/05/1898
ISIS - 10/05/1898 - 27/09/1898
PEMBROKE I - 28/09/1898 - 30/10/1898
DIADEM - 31/10/1898 - 07/01/1899
PEMBROKE I - 08/01/1899 - 19/05/1899
PEMBROKE III - 20/05/1899 - 11/10/1899
PEMBROKE I - 12/10/1899 - 27/10/1899
DORIS - 28/10/1899 - 18/11/1899
DWARF - 19/11/1899 - 27/05/1902, aboard during the 1901 census
PEMBROKE I - 28/05/1902 - 19/01/1902
WILDFIRE - 20/01/1902 - 03/01/1905
PIONEER - 04/01/1905 - 12/08/1907, rising to Leading Seaman on 04/01/1905, Petty Officer on 20/03/1905 and Petty Officer 1st Class on 12/08/1905
CRESCENT - 23/08/1905 - 05/10/1905
WILDFIRE - 06/10/1905 - 30/08/1908
PEMBROKE I - 01/09/1908 - 12/02/1909
ROYAL ARTHUR - 13/02/1909 - 26/03/1909
SPHINX - 27/03/1909 - 05/04/1911, aboard during the 1911 England census. This special service ship was anchored at Bombay in the East Indies.
PEMBROKE I - 06/04/1911 - 04/01/1912, Arthur married Mildred Burley in the spring of 1911 after returning from the East Indies.
ANTRIM - 05/01/1912 - 09/07/1912
IMPLACABLE - 10/07/1912 - 13/08/1912
PEMBROKE I - 14/08/1912 - 29/10/1912
DUNCAN - 30/10/1912 - 25/11/1912
PEMBROKE - 26/11/1912 - 29/11/1912
LONDON - 30/11/1912 - 09/05/1913
PEMBROKE I - 10/05/1913 - 17/11/1913
VANGUARD - 18/11/1913 - 27/07/1914
PEMBROKE I - 28/07/1914 - 01/08/1914
HANNIBAL - 02/08/1914 - 29/08/1914
BLANCHE - 30/08/1914 - 12/11/1916, serving aboard during the Battle of Jutland.
VANGUARD - 13/11/16 - 09/07/1917
Mildred was awarded Arthur’s pension after his death to help raise their 4 year old son David who was born in 1913. He was awarded the Star, Victory and British medals.
#18 - 434/843
Sources:
1881, 1891, 1911 England Census Ancestry.com
England & Wales, Civil Registration Birth Index, 1837-1915 FreeBMD
Royal Navy Registers of Seamen's Services, 1848-1939 National Archives Royal Navy Registers of Seamen's Services; ADM 188/ 291
England & Wales, Civil Registration Marriage Index, 1837-1915 Free BMD
CWGC Register
British Army and Navy Birth, Marriage and Death Records, 1730-1960 The National Archives of the UK; Admiralty: Naval Casualties, Indexes, War Grave Rolls and Statistics Book, First World War.ADM 242; 008; (1914 - 1919)
British Army and Navy Birth, Marriage and Death Records, 1730-1960 National Archives of the UK; Kew, Surrey, England; Admiralty and predecessors: Office of the Director General of the Medical Department of the Navy and predecessors: Service Registers and Registers of Deaths and Injuries. Registers of Reports of Deaths
Naval Medal and Award Rolls, 1793-1972 ADM 171; Piece: 106
Western Front Association; London, England; Pension Record Cards; Reference: 106/0494/JAR-JAY
Lowestoft Journal 1917
Google Streetview Maps