Sir (Robert) Arthur Arnold (28 May 1833 – 20 May 1902) was a British
Liberal
Liberal or liberalism may refer to:
Politics
* a supporter of liberalism
** Liberalism by country
* an adherent of a Liberal Party
* Liberalism (international relations)
* Sexually liberal feminism
* Social liberalism
Arts, entertainment and m ...
Framfield
Framfield is a village and civil parish in the Wealden District of East Sussex, England. The village is located two miles (3 km) east of Uckfield; the settlements of Blackboys, Palehouse and Halland form part of the parish area of 6,700&nb ...
Edwin Arnold
Sir Edwin Arnold KCIE CSI (10 June 183224 March 1904) was an English poet and journalist, who is most known for his work '' The Light of Asia''.Gravesend,
Kent
Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...
,''Obituary: Sir Arthur Arnold'', The Times, 21 May 1902, p. 6 he was educated privately and trained as a surveyor and land agent.John Sutherland, ''The Stanford Companion to Victorian Fiction'', Stanford University Press, 1989.
In 1861, he was involved in the surveying operations prior to the construction of the
Thames Embankment
The Thames Embankment is a work of 19th-century civil engineering that reclaimed marshy land next to the River Thames in central London. It consists of the Victoria Embankment and Chelsea Embankment.
History
There had been a long history of ...
. Two years later he was appointed under the 1863 Public Works (Manufacturing Districts) Act as an Assistant Commissioner (and later Inspector) of Public Works in
Lancashire
Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly.
The non-metropolitan county of Lancash ...
, during the
Cotton Famine
The Lancashire Cotton Famine, also known as the Cotton Famine or the Cotton Panic (1861–65), was a depression in the textile industry of North West England, brought about by overproduction in a time of contracting world markets. It coincided wi ...
, and subsequently wrote ''A History of the Cotton Famine''. In his spare time he was a writer, and published two "sensation" novels: ''Ralph, or St Sepulchre's and St Stephen's'' (1863) and ''Hever Court'' (1867).
He made a tour of southern and eastern Europe in 1867, and became a strong supporter of the
Kingdom of Greece
The Kingdom of Greece ( grc, label= Greek, Βασίλειον τῆς Ἑλλάδος ) was established in 1832 and was the successor state to the First Hellenic Republic. It was internationally recognised by the Treaty of Constantinople, wh ...
a position he set out in ''From the Levant''. In 1873 he was awarded the Golden Cross of the Order of the Saviour of Greece.
In 1867, he married Amelia Elizabeth Hyde of Castle Hyde,
County Cork
County Cork ( ga, Contae ChorcaÃ) is the largest and the southernmost county of Ireland, named after the city of Cork, the state's second-largest city. It is in the province of Munster and the Southern Region. Its largest market towns a ...
. They had no children. His wife was a campaigner for
women's suffrage
Women's suffrage is the right of women to vote in elections. Beginning in the start of the 18th century, some people sought to change voting laws to allow women to vote. Liberal political parties would go on to grant women the right to vot ...
and a prominent public figure in her own right.
He was a member of the Radical faction of the Liberal Party, and in 1868 was the first editor of ''The Echo'', a Liberal evening paper. In 1873 was an unsuccessful candidate for a
by-election
A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India, or a Zimni election (Urdu: ضمنی انتخاب, supplementary election) in Pakistan, is an election used to f ...
at
Huntingdon
Huntingdon is a market town in the Huntingdonshire district in Cambridgeshire, England. The town was given its town charter by King John in 1205. It was the county town of the historic county of Huntingdonshire. Oliver Cromwell was born there ...
. In 1875, soon after the sale of the ''Echo'' to Albert Grant, Arnold resigned his editorship and journeyed through the Middle East with his wife. He published an account of the thousand-mile journey in 1877 as ''Through Persia by Caravan''.
In 1878, he published a collection of his political writings as ''Social Politics''. Among the causes he supported were disestablishment of the
Church of England
The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britai ...
, land law reform, reform of local government in The Metropolis, nationalisation of railways, women's suffrage and support for the
temperance movement
The temperance movement is a social movement promoting temperance or complete abstinence from consumption of alcoholic beverages. Participants in the movement typically criticize alcohol intoxication or promote teetotalism, and its leaders emph ...
.
In
1880
Events
January–March
* January 22 – Toowong State School is founded in Queensland, Australia.
* January – The international White slave trade affair scandal in Brussels is exposed and attracts international infamy.
* February †...
, he was elected as one of two
members of parliament
A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...
for
Salford
Salford () is a city and the largest settlement in the City of Salford metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. In 2011, Salford had a population of 103,886. It is also the second and only other city in the metropolitan county afte ...
, with the Liberals gaining both seats at the expense of the
Conservatives
Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...
. The
Redistribution of Seats Act 1885
The Redistribution of Seats Act 1885 (48 & 49 Vict., c. 23) was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It was a piece of electoral reform legislation that redistributed the seats in the House of Commons, introducing the concept of equal ...
split the parliamentary borough of Salford into three single-member divisions, and Arnold stood unsuccessfully for the new Salford North constituency in 1885 and
1886
Events
January–March
* January 1 – Upper Burma is formally annexed to British Burma, following its conquest in the Third Anglo-Burmese War of November 1885.
* January 5– 9 – Robert Louis Stevenson's novella ''Strange ...
London County Council
London County Council (LCC) was the principal local government body for the County of London throughout its existence from 1889 to 1965, and the first London-wide general municipal authority to be directly elected. It covered the area today kno ...
in
1889
Events
January–March
* January 1
** The total solar eclipse of January 1, 1889 is seen over parts of California and Nevada.
** Paiute spiritual leader Wovoka experiences a vision, leading to the start of the Ghost Dance movement in t ...
, Arnold was elected as a county
alderman
An alderman is a member of a municipal assembly or council in many jurisdictions founded upon English law. The term may be titular, denoting a high-ranking member of a borough or county council, a council member chosen by the elected members t ...
, and was chairman of the council from 1895 to 1897. He was knighted in 1895. He was also a Deputy Lieutenant and Justice of the Peace for the
County of London
The County of London was a county of England from 1889 to 1965, corresponding to the area known today as Inner London. It was created as part of the general introduction of elected county government in England, by way of the Local Government A ...
, and a Board of Trade Harbour Commissioner and JP for Dartmouth.
His beliefs were reflected in his presidency of the Free Land League and his membership of the London Anti-
Vivisection
Vivisection () is surgery conducted for experimental purposes on a living organism, typically animals with a central nervous system, to view living internal structure. The word is, more broadly, used as a pejorative catch-all term for Animal testi ...
Society.
Sir Arthur Arnold died suddenly at his Kensington, London, home in May 1902, aged 68.