Arthur Roberts

46 Church Road Buckley.

Arthur Roberts and his brothers attended St Matthew's church school, and on leaving school Arthur trained as a draughtsman/electrical engineer at Brookhirst Engineering, Chester.

In 1916, aged eighteen, he joined the Royal Naval Flying Corps, and was sent to Donnybristle on the Firth of Forth to join the HMS Campania, a former Cunard cruise ship which had been converted to an early form of aircraft carrier. At first Arthur was shore-based, and he was part of the team which developed the mechanism which 'caught' the aircraft (bi-planes at that time) as they landed. He was at sea on the Campania, and that whilst the ship was in Scapa Flow, it was ordered to take part in the Battle of Jutland. However, German submarines were detected at the entrance to Scapa Flow and so the Campania was ordered not to sail.

In 1918 HMS Campania was anchored in the Firth of Forth, along with other vessels, when a sudden squall blew up, causing her anchor to drift. Thus the vessel collided with others, causing so much damage to herself that she sank, pitching the crew into the water. He was rescued, but for some reason he was subsequently profoundly deaf in both ears.