Mr Arthur McMicken was born on 20 August 1885 in Liverpool, Lancashire, England and baptised on 10 February the following year in St Mary's, Walton.

He was the son of Thomas McMicken (b. 1863) and Cecilia Elizabeth Tucker (b. 1855). His father was a native of Cumberland and his mother from Anglesey, Wales and they had married in 1882 in Birkenhead. They went on to have seven children, five of whom lived past infancy: Thomas John (b. 1884), Willie (b. 1887), Benjamin Tucker (b. 1891), Annie Dora (b. 1893) and Arthur.¹

On the 1891 census Arthur and his family were living at 5 Calmet (?) Street in Everton, Liverpool and his father was described as an engineer's fitter. By the time of the 1901 census they had relocated to 18 Rupert Street and then Arthur, aged 15, was described as a warehouseman and his father as a marine engineer.

The family probably moved to Southampton around 1906, and show up living on the 1911 census living at Brae Burn, 23 Hanley Road, Southampton. Arthur was described as an unmarried steward and his mother was described as a widow. His father, however, was alive and well and eventually died in Liverpool in 1935. Living with the family at the time of the 1911 census were Titanic crewmen James Toshack and his wife, and steward Edward Brown. Edward may have been friendly with the McMicken family, he and Mrs McMicken both being natives of Anglesey, as he would later give their 1912 address as his own when signing on to Titanic (43 Suffolk Avenue).

When he signed-on to the Titanic on 4 April 1912 McMicken gave his address as 43 Suffolk Avenue, Southampton and he had transferred from the Olympic. He received monthly wages of £3, 15s as a steward. Also serving on board was his brother Benjamin.

Arthur McMicken was rescued (he was recognised as being aboard lifeboat 11 by Charles McKay); his brother was lost in the sinking.

Arthur returned to England and continued to work at sea, surviving both World Wars: by 1919 he was living at 243 Breck Road, Liverpool and was working aboard Regina. In the 1930s he served aboard Georgic and during the 1940s served for many voyages aboard Queen Elizabeth and Queen Mary as a senior tourist steward, also serving aboard Volendam as a bar steward in 1944. He served aboard Ascania in the early 1950s as a library steward.

Details about Arthur's later personal life are vague but he later cohabited with a woman named Amelia "Amy" Vaughan, née Stent; their only child, a daughter, Amy Margaret Cecilia, was born in 1918. Arthur and Amy eventually married in 1942 but three years later they lost their daughter who died in August 1945 and was later interred at Huyton Church; at the time the family address was 558 East Prescott Road, Liverpool. 

Arthur McMicken died in Liverpool in 1958 aged 72 and was still a resident of 558 East Prescott Road; he was survived by his widow Amy but what became of her after the disaster is uncertain; she was still alive as of 1965.