Arthur William Cripps should not be confused with fellow Queensland sporting enlistee Arthur Cecil Cripps, a former middleweight champion of Australia who was more commonly mentioned in the contemporary newspapers. A. W. Cripps, though, was not lacking in sporting talent, having played twice for Queensland’s representative soccer team against New South Wales in 1915. Cripps had been selected while playing for the Kangaroo Point-based club Wellingtons, though was absent from local soccer reports before that year.
He enlisted in September 1915 alongside fellow Queensland representative players Peter Spence and Archie McDonald. Cripps left Australia in January 1916, but not before he married Florence Saunders. Cripps was diagnosed with mumps soon after arriving in England and would finally join up with the 25th Battalion in France in July. This was followed by two promotions interspersed with bouts of conjunctivitis and trench fever, the latter of which saw him return to England in March 1917.
After his recovery, Cripps was sent for further training and received another promotion to temporary Sergeant. His rise was halted by two reprimands in two months resulting in a loss of rank to Corporal. Cripps returned to France in November 1917 and was permanently promoted to Sergeant in January.
His war ended in July 1918 when he received gunshot wounds to the shoulder and was evacuated. Cripps spent just over a year at Weymouth, a camp where injured Australian soldiers resided until they were fit enough to return home. He finally arrived back in Australia in January 1920 where he was formally discharged.
Cripps’ post-war life is obscure. It appears Florence sued for divorce in the UK in 1924. Cripps died in Bright, Victoria on 20 March 1984.