Born at Newport, in County Mayo, eight miles from Castlebar, Arthur was educated at Horton College, and at the age of twenty was sent to Goobbee, in Southern India, where he was engaged for several years in missionary work in the Mysore. While there his progress in the Canarese language is said to have been remarkable; but being threatened with blindness, he was obliged to return to Europe, and was employed for three years in advocating with much ability the Indian missionary work of the Wesleyan Society. He acted in his ministerial capacity in Paris from 1846 to 1849; then for seventeen years he filled the post of secretary to the Methodist Missionary Society. In 1867 he was elected Principal of the Methodist College Belfast, and continued to fill that office until 1871, when he resigned, but still maintained his connection with the Conference as honorary missionary secretary. In 1866-67 he was :Category:Presidents of the Methodist Conference|President of the Wesleyan Conference. Arthur was best known as the author of numerous pamphlets and books including:
A Mission to the Mysore, with Scenes and Facts Illustrative of India, its People, and its Religion
Italy in Transition: Public Scenes and Private Opinions in the Spring of 1860, illustrated by Official Documents from the Papal Archives of the Revolted Legations
His lecture on Systematic Beneficence gave the first impetus to that movement; and his own practice was referred to as a living example of it. His intimate knowledge of India and its people made his counsel valuable to statesmen; and it was widely acknowledged that he was a power outside his own Church, and an aggressive proponent of Christianity. Arthur suffered various infirmities throughout his life, but lived to the age of 83, dying in Cannes, France.
The William Arthur Memorial is located on the at Gubbi Town, about 80 km from Bangalore. The church is painted turquoise blue and built in the Gothic style, being completed in 1904. The church is named after William Arthur, an Irish Wesleyan missionary and Canarese Scholar, who served in Gubbi. The present structure replacing the old Gobbee Chapel, built by Thomas Hodson and William Arthur.
