Constituency : Sleaford 1906-10
Arnold took Sleaford from the Tories unseating a long-serving incumbent.
Arnold was the son of a Unitarian minister from Leeds. The family had prospered through trade. Arnold was professor of mining at Leeds University and a director of several mining companies and syndicates. He also lectured internationally.
Arnold supported universal suffrage although he abstained on the 1908 Women's Enfranchisement Bill. He supported Free Trade and market economics. He opposed compulsory vaccination. He was a teetotaller and temperance supporter. He was a clean air campaigner. Some of his colleagues described him as a " concealed socialist".
Arnold could be long-winded and sometimes precipitated an exodus from the chamber.
Arnold was defeated in January 1910.
Arnold was a pacifist opposed to Britain entering World War One. His business dealings with Germany through the Northern Union Mining Company Limited became suspect. He was then imprisoned for six months for printing and distributing pacifist leaflets, activities prejudicial to recruiting.
In 1918 , Arnold stood in Plaistow as a Liberal and Temperance candidate although he did not have the backing of the local party. His Labour opponent won with 94.9 % of the vote which must be close to a record.
Arnold was attracted to the Anti-Waste movement and decided to contest the Westminster Abbey by-election as an "Independent Liberal and Anti-Waste" candidate. However there was an official Anti-Waste League candidate in the field who beat Arnold to second place behind the Tory who was himself opposed to the coalition.
He died in 1930 aged 83.
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