Arnold

About 1783, my great, great, great grandfather, Charles Arnold moved from Shillington, set up home in Meppershall and married Mary
Hale. Meppershall, a small village, has been in existence since before 1200AD. Charles and Mary sired 11 children, four of them not
surviving childhood which was not unusual considering the primitive conditions that working families had to endure both at work and
at home.

Charles' third son was also called Charles. He was born in 1795 and at the young age of 19, married Esther Washington in Meppershall .
One year later their first son, John was born in Barton in the Clay. Barton was only four miles away but was a larger village with a history
going back beyond the Norman Conquest in 1066. Charles prospered slightly better than his ancestors, becoming a tenant farmer of
about 17 acres of land. The Arnold family lived in Barton for about 60 years before moving a further 8 miles south to Luton.

History has a way of repeating itself because my wife and I set up home in Barton in the Clay when we were first married. I had no idea
at that time that my maternal family had lived there for many years and, in fact, the family cottage was literally just around the corner. Our
two children, Mark and Janette were both born there so south Bedfordshire remains an important part of our ancestral heritage.

Brian Isger
2008

Josephine ARNOLD, my mother, was born in November
1918, some 6 weeks after the end of World War 1. She was
10 years old when the great depression started in 1929.

The Arnold family had moved to Luton in the mid 1880's
which was a modest but growing market town dominated
by the straw hat industry. Luton was the major town in
south Bedfordshire and its growth attracted rural families
seeking regular work. The Arnold family was one such
family.

We can trace our Arnold ancestors to Shillington in 1650, a
small south Bedfordshire village housing families that
provided labour to the local landowners. Shillington was
named after a Saxon called Sycttle and has been in
existence for over 1000 years. The men were agricultural
labourers whilst the women acquired skills as plaiters of
straw used mainly in the straw hat industry. Work was
spasmodic and families often moved between villages to
find employment. The Arnold family was no different; they
were poor people working on the land.