Lieutenant
Arthur STEELE
Lieutenant Arthur STEELE


Arthur Steele was
born at Nœux-les-Mines in France on 6 April 1921, the son of Arthur Steele, a member
of the staff of the (then) Imperial War Graves Commission (IWGC), now the
Commonwealth war Graves Commission (CWGC). Arthur senior had been a British
soldier, in the Royal Horse Artillery, in France during the First World War,
where he had met his French wife, Marie Hortense. Steele was therefore raised
and educated in northern France, at the age of 12 he won a place to study music
at a French conservatoire, but when 14 years old and with his father’s
encouragement, he left for England and enlisted in 1935 in the British Army,
joining the Royal Artillery at Woolwich as a Boy Soldier Bandsman. [Remainder of case study is complete - contact author for further details].