Arthur Joseph Meadows was born in Mile End in the East End of London in 1843. The youngest child, he lived with his parents until his father's death in 1863. He then continued to live in the neighbouring streets off Bow Road in close proximity to his mother and his sister Ann and her family, until 1868.
One interesting vignette of the young Arthur that has survived was as a member of a Mile End amateur dramatic society, 'The Pickwick Histrionic Club', which appeared at the Beaumont Institution in Beaumont Square (where the Meadows family lived at the time). Arthur appeared in a drama called, 'All that glitters is not gold', and the critic of 'The Players' Magazine noted in his review of the evening that, "Mr A.J.Meadows as Lady Leatherbridge was also exceedingly good" , perhaps showing some of his father's and grandfather's dramatic talent.