Arthur Henry Derrett was born in Wotton-under-Edge, Gloucestershire, England in the closing months of 1883.

He was the son of Henry Thomas Derrett (b. 1858) and Louisa Gazard (b. 1865), both natives of Gloucestershire who had married in 1881. His father worked as a general labourer but later became a newsagent.

Arthur had three siblings, two of whom are known: Ernest John (b. 1882) and Lucy Louisa (b. 1888) (his third sibling, a sister, was possibly Annie, b. 1895).

Arthur and his family appear on the 1891 census living in Holywell, Wotton-under-Edge but would have moved to Pounds Ground in Wotton by the time of the 1901 census, although Arthur is absent, by now working in London, and his father is now a widower, his mother having died in 1896 aged 31. Arthur had been educated at the Blue Coat School before he became a servant at Boxwell Court in Leighterton, Gloucestershire, a post he held for only a short while before he commenced a career at sea with P&O before joining the White Star Line. He would be aboard the Olympic at the time of the collision with HMS Hawke.

He would be absent from the 1911 census but his father, now a jobbing gardener, was listed as living at The Rope Walk in Wotton.

Arthur initially signed-on to the Titanic in Belfast for her delivery trip to Southampton. When he signed-on again on 4 April 1912, he gave his address as "Lyndon", Hillside Avenue, (Southampton). His last ship had been the Olympic and as a saloon steward he received monthly wages of £3, 15s.

Derrett died in the sinking. His body, if recovered, was never identified. Local press at the time reported that he was engaged to be married although the identity of his fiancée is unknown.

His father is believed to have died in the 1940s.