Sir George Arthur was born in Plymouth on 21 June 1784 and entered the army in August 1804. He served in Sicily, Italy, and in Egypt in 1807, distinguishing himself in the fighting at Rosetta. In 1809 he participated in the Walcheren expedition on Sir Eyre Coote's staff and played a prominent role in the attack on Flushing. After serving as military secretary to the Governor of Jersey, in 1812 Arthur joined the 7th West India regiment and was appointed Assistant Quartermaster-General at Jamaica. In 1814 he took up the post of Superintendent and Commandant of British Honduras, and married Elizabeth Smith, the daughter of Colonel Sir John Smith, who commanded Jamaica’s artillery.

As Superintendent of Honduras, Arthur encouraged the settlement’s economic prosperity by pursuing more advantageous terms for its timber trade and protected commerce from piracy. He sought to maintain amicable relations with neighbouring Spanish colonies and to preserve neutrality in the movement for their independence from Spain. He reformed the administration of justice, undertook a public works programme to improve the capital Belize and acted to restrict illegal land occupation. At times there were conflicts between Arthur and the elected magistrates and the ‘public meeting’ (legislative council) over the extent of their relative powers. As an evangelical Anglican, Arthur supported church building and missionary work. He was a committed abolitionist, and sought to improve the treatment of the enslaved and to stamp out the illegal importation of enslaved persons. During the final years of his tenure, Arthur clashed with owners over the enslavement of the descendants of the indigenous peoples of the Mosquito Shore, which sparked a wider controversy about the exercise of his authority. His command of the settlement garrison was challenged by Lieutenant-Colonel Thomas Bradley, whom he had arrested, leading to a lengthy dispute. Arthur took leave in Britain due to ill health in 1822 and did not return to Honduras. He later served as Lieutenant-Governor of Van Diemen's Land (1823-36), Lieutenant-Governor of Upper Canada (1837-41), and Governor of Bombay (1842-45).