Royal Navy – HMS Impregnable
Arthur Henry Frederick Keen was born in Chipping Campden on 21 January 1885, the son of George and Elizabeth Keen. According to the 1901 Census he was a Stable Boy at Heath Lodge, Ullenhall, Warwickshire. Upon joining the navy on 21 March 1905, he gave his occupation as a ‘domestic servant’.
His first posting was to HMS Impregnable, a Training Establishment at Devonport and he became an Officer’s Steward Second Class on 1 October 1907. He appears to have served the rest of his naval career at this establishment, rising to the rank of Officer’s Steward First Class in 1919. It would appear that he was discharged from the Navy on 3 December 1919, due to sickness.
It would appear that he had a brother, Walter Charles, who served as a Private (493439) with the 697 Agricultural Company, Labour Corps and who died on 1 December 1918, aged 40. His grave, in Maidstone Cemetery, Kent was lost and rediscovered thanks to local research and a CWGC headstone placed in 2019.
Researched by Graham Adams 8 December 2019 (revised)