Arthur Scarlett
Memories of the 1950's & 1960's
Arthur James Scarlett was General Secretary of the Nottinghamshire Rifle Association from 4 Dec 1953 to the AGM held on 11 May 1972. On retirement from the office of Secretary, he was made an Honorary Life Member by the Council on 20 Mar 1972 in recognition of 19 years service as Association Secretary.
Arthur was born in 1907 in Fulham, London, and was baptised at St Matthew's Church and given his father's name. His mother was Florence Kate M Pridmore. He had a younger sister Florence Mary and a brother Frederick John.
His father was called up for service in the First World War with the 5th (Royal Irish) Lancers and sadly died in Ireland in April 1916. He is buried in the Grangegorman Military Cemetery, Dublin. Arthur was 9 years old at this time.
In 1921 the family headed by Florence Kate moved to Rempstone and subsequently to Lambert Street, Nottingham, where they are on the electoral rolls for 1929 to 1931
In Dec 1937 Arthur married Connie Cawthan at Sneinton Parish Church. In 1939 Arthur and Connie were living in Grove Road, Lenton, Nottingham. He was a Machine Tool Fitter. Their first child Tony was born in January 1940 and he was followed by daughter Susan. Meanwhile the rest of the family had returned south to Wandsworth, London.
Not far from Grove Road was the Royal Ordnance Factory (ROF) Nottingham and probably Arthur was working there during the Second World War. In 1953 he was shooting with the ROF B team, which included Ben Lawton, Ken Leyland, R Peet, and Arthur. The ROF A team was Ken Astle, Joyce Etches (Riley), S Ray Botterill, and Ernest Watts.
From a letter written to the Nottingham Evening Post in 1991 it is evident that Arthur suffered from deafness in his later years. He died after a short illness in 1996 aged 89 in Nottingham.
The pictures donated by Arthur Scarlett's family
Whilst we have tried to identify locations and people in these pictures, if you can put names to the unknown faces, dates and locations, please let us know by emailing us using this link.
Picture 1 - ROF Club Members with the Portland Cup
Picture 2 - ROF Team Winners of Hackford Cup
Picture 3 - ROF Members and Trophies Won
Picture 4 - Notts RA Members at Annual Prize Giving
Picture 5 - possibly the old Chesterfield range
Picture 6 - possibly the Chilwell Brickyard range
Picture 7 - ROF Members with Portland Cup
Picture 8 - An old c.1960 postcard from Bisley
