Ladies of the Shoe Industry - Elizabeth Arnold

 

Elizabeth Arnold was the wife of James William Arnold (known as William Arnold) of A & W Arnold, Northampton. Born in Northampton in 1861 to Alfred Walker, was a boot fitter from Alfred’s Place St Sepulchre’s Northampton, and Elizabeth Harriet Cox, from Thrapston, Northampton, she married William Arnold on 30^th November 1885 at St Michaels Church, Northampton.[1]

Elizabeth Arnold,
Primitive Methodist Magazine, 1928

We can make assumptions about Mrs Arnold’s demeanour from the personal recollections of her husband, William. It is noted that the couple’s philanthropic activities, especially connected to religious causes, were vast and they gave 10% of their income to worthy causes, a decision made by Elizabeth.[2] Elizabeth was described as encouraging William “in all those admirable works that have characterised [their lives]. Like Dorcas she was full of good works and alms deeds.”[3]

Her husband attributed the change of his life of lost faith and battle with abstinence to his wife’s support.[4] In his memoir he talked about how her mother and father were against their pairing saying “if she married me, they told her, she would find that I would speedily return to my old habits, and she would rue the day. It was evident, they said, that I had turned teetotal and religious only to get her.”[5] It was clear from his recollections that he was devoted to Elizabeth.

Park Avenue Methodist Church,
Northampton

Foundation stone laid by William Arnold
 in memory of his wife

When Elizabeth Arnold died in 1921[6], her husband, William Arnold of Arnold Bros Ltd, donated £5000 to the Kettering-road Primitive Methodist Church to fund the building of a new church on Park Avenue. In offering this gift, he insisted that it was not his gift and the gift of his late wife, stating “it is what she would have given to the good cause and to the community if she had been able to go about doing good.”[7] This act of benevolence is similar to that of Sir Philip Manfield’s wife Lady Manfield who donated £5000 to the Unitarian Church for the building on Abington Square.[8] From this it can be argued that the motivation for Philip Manfield was to appease his wife whereas William Arnold’s motivation was that of memorial.  Both however were influenced by their wives motivation and affiliations with the church.  On top of this she had previously gifted the Horsemarket Primitive Methodist Church £50 each year towards its work among the poor and the destitute. [9]. 

 

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[1] Northamptonshire Record Office; Northampton, England; Register Type: Parish Registers; Reference Numbers: 238P/5

[2] Arnold, W., Brooker, Keith & Northamptonshire Record Society, publisher, 2014. Recollections of William Arnold, Northampton: Northamptonshire Record Society. p. 59

[3] Britten, Thomas. W., Ventures of Faith, the Story of the Kettering Road Primitive Methodist Church Northampton (1927) p. 13 (figure 21). Dorcas was an early disciple of Jesus Christ and her charity is often depicted in stained glass.

[4] Arnold, Brooker et al.  Recollections of William Arnold. p. 70

[5] Arnold, Brooker et al,  p. 111

[6] Northampton Daily Echo, 12th March 1921

[7] Northampton Daily Echo 1^st February 1923

[8] N.M. 8^th October 1897. The Kettering Road Church opened on October 7^th 1897. For more about Lady Manfield check out my blog post here 

[9] Northampton Daily Echo 1 February 1923 

[10] A blog post about Catherine Lewis can be read here at History Bites. More will be written about philanthropy links to Northampton General Hospital soon.