Arthur W. Savage was born in Kingston, Jamaica, British West Indies on May 13, 1857, the son of John and Jane Henderson Savage. He went to England for his education at Leeds and was a student at South Ken­sington Art Academy in London (1871-74). He sailed for Australia where he engaged in the cattle business for about eleven years and there married Anne Bryant. He then re­turned to Jamaica and operated a coffee plantation for two years. In 1888 he came to New York where he was employed by Munn & Company, publishers of scientific papers and magazines.

Shortly after that, Mr. Savage came to Utica where he became an employee of the Belt Line Railroad and did much to improve the service. The Thompson-Hueston Company, interested at the time in the Belt Line, sent Savage to Saratoga Springs to take charge of the street railroad there (1891-92), during which time he electrified the lines and placed them on a substantial basis.

Arthur Savage began to exercise a talent for invention while he was a cowboy in Australia. When he returned to Jamaica, he learned that the British government wanted an improved firearm and he set about to produce it. He devised a gun, the rights for the manufacture of which he sold to the Hartley & Graham Company. When he returned to Utica, he entered his new Savage 1892 military rifle in the military trials of that year on Governor’s Island. It was placed No. 35 and no United States contract was obtained. On February 7, 1893, he secured a patent on his rifle and organized the Savage Repeating Arms Company (1893-97). Since he had no factory, he arranged with John Marlin of the Marlin Firearms Company of New Haven, Connecticut, to make the first group of rifles. In 1895, Savage developed the .303 caliber lever-action rifle, and began their manufacture in a small plant in Hubbell Street, Utica. In 1897, the Savage Arms Company (1897-1917) was incorporated and a site on Tilden Avenue was purchased and buildings erected.

Arthur Savage developed the Savage Halpine torpedo, became the Superintendent of the Utica Belt Line Railroad, and invented the first "hammerless" lever action rifle with the entire mechanism enclosed in a steel receiver. This remarkable rifle featured a rotary magazine with a unique counter that visually displayed the number of bullets remaining in the receiver. The Model 99, as it became known, advanced firearm technology, offered the average person an affordable rifle, and started a business that has stood the test of time. In 1919, Chief Lame Bear approached Arthur to purchase lever-action rifles for the Indian reservation and the two men struck a deal. The tribe would get discounted rifles and Savage would get their support and endorsement. It was at this time in the company's history, that Arthur Savage added the Indian head logo--a direct gift from the Chief--to the company name. By 1919, Savage Arms was manufacturing high power rifles, 22 caliber rifles, pistols and ammunition.

His inventive genius included, in addition to magazine rifle improvements, a knowledge of munitions, and he designed the dirigible torpedo. During World War I he resigned as an officer of the Savage Tire Company, a five million dollar corporation he founded to engage in war work with the government, and was assigned to work with the British Minister of Munitions. He died at the age of 83 in San Diego, California on September 22, 1938.

The Savage Arms Corporation was a major supplier of arms during both World War I and World War II and during the first war furnished over seventy thousand machine guns of the Lewis type to Britain to contain the German advance.