Arthur John was born on 2 July 1898 and died in Lisbon on 31 March 1972, where he is buried in the cemetery of Ajuda. Sources disagree about his origins: he is remembered in Portugal as an Englishman, while other records give his birthplace as Most, then in Austria-Hungary. Nothing substantial survives of a playing career. He was one of the itinerant British-trained coaches who brought organised training and tactical instruction to Portuguese football in the 1920s, and he made his name at Vitória de Setúbal before Benfica engaged him.

He took charge in September 1929, his first match a 9-1 win at Sport Lisboa e Viseu on the 16th of that month, and stayed two seasons, 46 matches in which Benfica won 28, drew seven and lost eleven. The return was historic: back-to-back victories in the Campeonato de Portugal, then the national competition, in 1929/30 and 1930/31. The first of them was the club's first national title of any kind and ended a barren decade; the second was sealed in his final match in charge, a 3-0 win over FC Porto in the final at Coimbra on 28 June 1931.

His teams were built on the discipline and fitness work that Portuguese clubs of the period still largely lacked, and on a settled defensive shape rather than the improvisation of the amateur era. He left Benfica in 1931 and crossed the city to Sporting, whom he coached until 1933. He remained in Portugal for the rest of his life and is remembered as the first coach to give Benfica a national trophy.