Arthur Percival Gwynn, Irish cricketer and rugby union player, is born on June 11, 1874, in Ramelton, County Donegal.

Gwynn is the fifth son of the Very Reverend John Gwynn DD and Josephine O’Brien. He is educated at St. Columba’s College, Dublin, and Trinity College Dublin (TCD). He comes from a cricketing family. His elder brother Lucius plays several times for Ireland, and a younger brother, Robin, also plays for Dublin University and Ireland. A fourth brother, Jack, after several seasons with the university team goes on to play first-class cricket in India. Each of the four brothers has his turn as captain of the Dublin University XI. A cousin, Donough O’Brien, plays for Ireland and the Marylebone Cricket Club, and a nephew, John David Gwynn, also plays for Dublin University.

Gwynn excels academically as well as on the sporting field. The most outgoing of the Gwynn brothers at Trinity College, he cuts a handsome and dashing figure. He graduates from Trinity College in 1896, taking a double first in his finals.

A right-handed batsman and wicket-keeper, Gwynn plays for the Ireland cricket team five times between 1893 and 1896. He also plays four first-class matches for Dublin University in 1895.

Gwynn makes his debut for Ireland in a match against W. H. Laverton’s XI, scoring one run in the only Irish innings. The following year, he plays twice for Ireland, against I Zingari and South Africa. He scores 62 in the second innings against South Africa, his top score for Ireland.

May 1895 sees Gwynn make his first-class debut, playing for Dublin University against the Marylebone Cricket Club on May 20. This is followed three days later by a match for Ireland against the same opponents. He plays three further first-class matches that year, two against Cambridge University and one against Leicestershire. He scores 130 in the final match against Cambridge University, his highest first-class score.

In all matches for Ireland, Gwynn scores 220 runs at an average of 36.67. He takes six catches and one stumping.

Gwynn also plays once for the Ireland national rugby union team, in the 1895 Four Nations tournament against Wales.

After completing the induction course for the Indian Civil Service in the autumn of 1897, Gwynn travels to Burma for his first tour of duty. Tragically his promising career comes to an abrupt end a few months later. He dies in Rangoon of septicemia resulting from a tooth infection on February 14, 1898.