Bernard Philip Arnold M.M., was born on 30 May 1893 in Birmingham, Warwickshire. He was one of the five children of Edward Alexander Arnold (1860-1908) and Osburga Arnold née Smallwood (1856-1936). His father was a stained-glass glazier.
The 1901 census shows him living at 217 St Vincent Street, Birmingham, with his parents, sister Gertrude Mary Arnold (1887-1959) and brother Wilfred Joseph Arnold (1897-1918).
In the 1911 census he is shown as a stained-glass artist living at 4 Norwood Villas, Waterworks Road, Birmingham with his widowed mother, his sister Gertrude Arnold who was a Post Office Telegraph Clerk and brother Wilfred Arnold who was still at school.
During World War One he joined the Royal Army Medical Corps, service number 39310, entering France on 29 July 1915 and rising to the rank of sergeant. He was awarded the Military Medal (that was given for acts of gallantry and devotion to duty under fire) in addition to the 1914-1915 Star, the British War Medal 1914-1918 and the Victory Medal. He was therefore entitled to use the post-nominal letters M.M. His brother, Wilfred Joseph Arnold, was killed in action on 23 July 1918 in France.
He taught industrial draughtsmanship, design and photography at the Birmingham School of Art from the 1930s until the early 1960s and in the 1930s he designed the eight panels on the wooden doors at Cornhill Insurance at 38 Cornhill, London, EC3 that were carved by Walter Gilbert.
The 1939 England and Wales Register shows him living with his sister at 47 Clarendon Road, Birmingham 16. His occupation was given as a Teacher, Sculptor and Painter but he was also shown as attached to Casualty Services at Rotton Park, Birmingham.
In 1943 he married Lucy Winifred Mary Wardell (1908-1947) in Birmingham. She was a shorthand typist and they had one daughter, Lucy A.C. Arnold, whose birth was registered in the first quarter of 1947 in Birmingham. Probate records inform that they were living at 47 Clarendon Road, Birmingham when his wife died on 10 February 1947. These records show that he was described as an arts master when he was granted probate of her estate on 11 June 1947 and that her effects totalled £639-7s-7d.
Telephone directories from 1976 show him listed at 9 Abbey Terrace, Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire.
He died, aged 92 years, in November 1985 and his death was recorded in the Cheltenham, Gloucestershire registration district. The parish burial register for Walton Cardiff, Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire shows that he was buried on 19 November 1985 and that his home address remained as 9 Abbey Terrace, Gloucester Road, Tewkesbury.
Credit for this entry to: Andrew Behan
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