Arthur Lucas Harrold (18 December 1854 – c. 25 July 1908) was a businessman and politician in South Australia. He was later jailed for serious financial offences.
Arthur was born in
Fullarton, South Australia
Fullarton is an inner southern suburb of Adelaide, South Australia in the City of Unley.
It adjoins Parkside, Unley, Malvern, Highgate and Myrtle Bank and is bisected by Fullarton Road. Fullarton is bounded by Cremorne Street, Randolph Avenue ...
, the eldest son of Joseph Harrold (c. 1821 – c. 5 April 1891) and around 1857 the family returned to England. He was educated at the
Aspley Guise
Aspley Guise is a village and civil parish in the west of Central Bedfordshire, England. In addition to the village of Aspley Guise itself, the civil parish also includes part of the town of Woburn Sands, the rest of which is in the City of Milto ...
School and
King's College London
King's College London (informally King's or KCL) is a public research university located in London, England. King's was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of King George IV and the Duke of Wellington. In 1836, King's ...
, where he graduated
AKC. In 1875, he and his brother Ernest returned to Adelaide to take over the firm of
Harrold Brothers
Harrold Brothers was a merchant and shipping company in South Australia in the second half of the 19th century, whose principals were brothers Joseph, Daniel and perhaps Henry Harrold, and succeeded by Joseph's sons Arthur, Eyston and Ernest.
Fo ...
, which had been founded by their father and his brother Daniel around 1854. Their father founded and managed the London office, then around 1884 retired to his home Wanstead Hall, in
Wanstead
Wanstead () is a town in East London, England, in the London Borough of Redbridge. It borders South Woodford to the north, Redbridge, London, Redbridge to the east and Forest Gate to the south, with Leytonstone and Walthamstow to the west. It is ...
, Essex.
The firm began as a hardware store on Hindley Street, then grew to become one of the largest shipping agents in the colony, from 1869 owning the Adelaide Line of
clipper
A clipper was a type of mid-19th-century merchant sailing vessel, designed for speed. Clippers were generally narrow for their length, small by later 19th century standards, could carry limited bulk freight, and had a large total sail area. "C ...
s, which included the
City of Adelaide
The City of Adelaide, also known as the Corporation of the City of Adelaide and Adelaide City Council is a local government area in the metropolitan area of greater Adelaide, South Australia and is legally defined as the capital city of South ...
.
Arthur was on the boards of the
Bank of Adelaide
The Bank of Adelaide was founded in 1865 in Adelaide, the capital of South Australia. It was incorporated by an act of the Parliament of South Australia. The original directors of the company were Henry Ayers, Thomas Greaves Waterhouse, Robert B ...
,
Bagot Shakes and Lewis, the Imperial Insurance Company, Luxmoore & Company, Harrold, Colton and Company, and the Queen's Wharf Company.
He was a member of the Public Stores Commission and the Civil Service Commission of 1886 and 1888 respectively, set up to investigate the efficiency of government instrumentalities.
He was President of the
Adelaide Chamber of Commerce
, merged =
, successor =
, formation = {{start date and age, 1839, df=y
, founder =
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, merger = {{plain list,
* South Australian E ...
, of the Federated Employers' Council, and of the National Defence League. He was a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society of London, of the Royal Statistical Society of London, the Colonial Institute, the Royal United Service Institution, the Geographical Society of South Australia, and the Royal Society of South Australia. He held the office of Major with the South Australian Voluntary Defence Force, and was a prominent Freemason.
He was a member of the
South Australian House of Assembly
The House of Assembly, or lower house, is one of the two chambers of the Parliament of South Australia. The other is the Legislative Council. It sits in Parliament House in the state capital, Adelaide.
Overview
The House of Assembly was creat ...
representing
North Adelaide
North Adelaide is a predominantly residential precinct and suburb of the City of Adelaide in South Australia, situated north of the River Torrens and within the Adelaide Park Lands.
History
Surveyor-General Colonel William Light of the colo ...
from April 1896 to April 1897.
Around 1896 it was becoming apparent that Harrold Brothers' finances were built on a shaky foundation, but he resisted calls for him to resign from parliament. Creditors
G. & R. Wills precipitated their decline by suing them for unpaid debts. Insolvency hearings dragged on for three years, with
C. C. Kingston defending Arthur and C. M. Muirhead appearing for his brother Ernest. Both principals were declared bankrupt, with a second-class certificate suspended for three months. Arthur was singled out for special condemnation as he had systematically hidden the true state of the company's finances by hiding debts, inflating assets and converting assets held in trust. Commissioner Russell sentenced him to two years' jail.
He left South Australia for London in 1905 on business and never returned.
Family
Arthur married Eva Annie Morgan ( – 5 October 1931) on 25 February 1879 and lived at Barnard-street, North Adelaide. They had two children:
*Evelyn Mary Harrold (19 November 1879 – 6 December 1946)
*Eyston Harrold (23 January 1883 – ) married Margaret Campbell Pyers ( – ) on 11 August 1917
His brother Ernest Eyston Harrold (22 October 1856 – 1907) was also born in Fullarton, South Australia.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Harrold, Arthur
1854 births
1908 deaths
Alumni of King's College London
Associates of King's College London
Members of the South Australian House of Assembly
Australian ship owners
19th-century Australian businesspeople
19th-century Australian politicians
Australian politicians convicted of crimes