Arthur Gladstone Alderdice was born at Beechworth, Victoria and was educated at Beechworth Grammar School. At the outbreak of the First World War he was working in the shearing industry as a wool scourer.

Alderdice enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force on 6 April 1915. He was assigned to the 2nd Infantry Battalion and departed Sydney aboard HMAT Karoola on 16 June 1915. Alderdice was stationed briefly in Egypt before being deployed to Gallipoli on 6 August 1915, where he took part in the reinforcement of Lone Pine.

He was reported ill, most likely suffering from diphtheria, on 26 November 1915 and subsequently sent to Malta for recovery. After Gallipoli he was redeployed to Egypt, arriving on 18 February 1916. He was promoted to corporal on 24 March 1916. Alderdice departed Marseilles on 28 May 1916 aboard HMT Ivernia and was soon deployed to the Western Front.

He was seriously wounded in action by an enemy shell on 25 July 1916. He was transferred to a field hospital at Rouen on 27 July 1916, and then to the 3rd London General Hospital at Wandsworth. He died of tetanus on 15 August 1916. Arthur Alderdice is buried at Wandsworth (Earlsfield) Cemetery, England.