Events
Date of Birth: unknown.
Place of Birth: unknown.
Date of Burial: 29 October 1729.
Place of Burial: Stratford upon Avon, Warwickshire.
The burial is recorded in the parish registers.
Relationships
Father: Nathaniel Arnold.
Mother: Elizabeth Waring.
See the Commentary section.
Spouse: Anne Claridge. Married 20 July 1711 in Warwick St Mary’s.
The marriage is given in the parish register. Both the bride and groom are described as being “of this parish”. Ann was probably buried 23 February 1761 at Stratford upon Avon.
Children:
(Complete source citations for facts about the children on this page are currently outside of the scope of this project.)
Nathaniel Arnold (baptized 27 May 1712 in Southam, Warwickshire) married Catherine Winston 11 May 1734 in Stratford upon Avon.
Samuel Arnold (baptized 9 October 1713 in Stratford upon Avon, Warwickshire) married Mary Stanley 29 May 1739 in Stratford upon Avon.
Elizabeth Arnold (baptized 23 January 1714/5 in Stratford upon Avon).
John Arnold (baptized 13 May 1716 in Stratford upon Avon - died 25 November 1786) married Elizabeth Key 1 January 1744/5 in Napton-on-the-Hill, Warwickshire.
Mary Arnold (baptized 9 February 1717/8 in Stratford upon Avon) married Abraham Hoskins 3 October 1738 in Stratford upon Avon.
Richard Arnold (baptized 25 October 1719 in Stratford upon Avon).
William Arnold (baptized 21 October 1722 in Stratford upon Avon).
Thomas Arnold (baptized 9 May 1725 in Stratford upon Avon - buried 16 May 1725 in Stratford upon Avon).
Evidence
Marriage (Warwick, St Mary, parish register):
July
20th Nathaniel Arnold & Anne Claridge both of this parish by Licence
[image at FamilySearch]
The baptism of his son Nathaniel (Southam parish register):
Baptized Nathaniel the son of Nathaniel Arnold and Ann his wife upon the 27th day of May. 1712.
From the Stratford upon Avon parish register:
[1713 Oct.] 9. Samuel the Sonne of Nathaniel Arnold Black Smith [baptized]
[1714/5 Jan.] 23. Elizabeth the Daughter of Nathaniel Arnoll [baptized]
[1716 May] 13. John the sonne of Nathanal Arnoll [baptized]
[1717/8 Feb.] 9. Mary daughter of Nathaniel Arnold [baptized]
[1719 Oct.] 25. Richard son of Nathaniel Arnold [baptized]
[1722 Oct.] 21. William son of Nathaniel Arnold [baptized]
[1725 May] 9. Thomas son of Nathaneal Arnoll [baptized]
[1725 May] 16. Thomas son of Nathaniel Arnold [buried]
[1726 May] 22. The widow Arnold [buried]
[1728 March] 28. Elizabeth Arnold [buried]
[1729 Oct.] 29. Nathaniel Arnold [buried]
[1761 Feb] 23. Ann Arnold [buried]
The catalogue for the Stratford Shakespeare Trust (ER2/139) lists this bond, dated 11 October 1716:
Bond from John Freeman, of the parish of St. Swithin, Worcester, glover, to Nathaniel Arnold, of Stratford upon Avon, blacksmith, in £260, to perform covenants in indentures of feoffment of the same date. Signed, with seals. Witnesses: Thomas Woolmer, J. Woolmer, William Hiccox.
and (ER3/401) this lease and release, dated 1-2 September 1729:
Lease for a year and Release by Edward Clopton of Clopton, esq., to John Middleton of Montham, co. Sussex, esq., and Nathaniel Mason of Stratford-upon-Avon, gent., of messuages and lands in Clopton in the tenures of Simon Ball (rent £37) Richard Salmon (rent £80) and Nathaniel Arnold (rent £46), a messuage called the Shoulder of Mutton and land called Harrington's Leys in Bridgetown in the tenure of George Hyron (rent £30) and two small inclosed grounds in Bridgetown in the tenure of Thomas Woolmer (rent £8) in trust for a jointure to Martha Clopton [daughter. of Thomas Middleton], his wife, with remainder to his right heirs. Witnesses: Thomas Mason and Richard Thomas.
The catalogue for the Stratford Shakespeare Trust (ER 3/89) gives this abstract of Nathaniel’s will:
Probate copy of will of Nathaniel Earnall [Arnold] of Stratford-upon-Avon, blacksmith and farrier, dated 26 May 1729, bequeathing to his sons Nathaniel and Thomas £6 each and to his children John, Mary, Richard, Elizabeth and William £5 each, and the residue of his estate, goods, etc. to Samuel his son, the house which he bought of Francis Collins to be enjoyed by Anne his wife for her life.
Witnesses: Amos Green, Francis Banbury, Valentine Osborne.
Proved by Anne Arnold, at Stratford.
Date: 28 December 1729
Commentary
Nathaniel’s parentage
In his 1760 will, John Arnold the elder of Southam, farrier, made a bequest divided into eight parts. He described the first six beneficiaries as his nephews and nieces. His relationship to the others was unspecified. These are the beneficiaries:
Samuel Arnold;
John Arnold junior;
Richard Arnold;
Thomas Arnold;
Mary the wife of Abraham Hodgkins;
Elizabeth the wife of Robert Eaglesfield;
Robert Campton;
Thomas and Catherine Cook children of Thomas Cook of Long Itchington.
Samuel, John, Richard, Thomas, Mary, and Elizabeth were all children of Nathaniel Arnold and Anne Claridge. Therefore, John Arnold the elder was Nathaniel’s brother. (John Arnold junior was presumably called “junior” to differentiate him from his uncle John Arnold the elder, who named no children in his will.)
Thomas Cook of Long Itchington was a son of John Cook of Long Itchington and Elizabeth Arnold.
In his 1737 will, Nathaniel Arnold of Southam, farrier, named his his “Son John Arnold of Southam” and his “Daughter Elizabeth Cooke Wife of John Cook of Long Itchington”.
From these wills, it can be seen that the Nathaniel Arnold of this page was a son of the Nathaniel Arnold of the 1737 will, although he was not named in it. (He had died before it was made.)
The evidence regarding the mother of the Nathaniel of this page is also a little confusing. The following five pieces of evidence are particularly relevant:
The Barcheston parish register records the marriage in 1682 of “Nathaniell Arnold de Southam et Eliz: Waring de Shipston”.
The Southam register records the burial in 1684 of Elizabeth, wife of Nathaniel Arnold, but this appears to refer to another couple with the same names.
The Southam register records the baptism 25 November 1702 of “Elizabeth the daughter of Nathaniell Arnold and Elizabeth his wife”. The entry has been crossed out for unclear reasons.
In his 1714 will, Thomas Waring of Shipston made a bequest to his granddaughter Elizabeth Arnold.
In his 1737 will, Nathaniel Arnold, farrier of Southam, named his wife, Elizabeth.
For chronological reasons, it seems that the 1702 baptism must be that of the granddaughter of Thomas Waring. Presumably the 1684 burial shows that there were two couples in Southam at the time named Nathaniel and Elizabeth Arnold, and the burial was not that of Elizabeth (Waring) but of the “other” Elizabeth. (The father of the Nathaniel of the 1737 will was also named Nathaniel, and the “other” Elizabeth may have been one of his wives.)
Elizabeth Waring must have been the mother of the Nathaniel Arnold of this page, who was born well before 1702. However, it is not clear that the Elizabeth of the 1737 will is Elizabeth Waring and not a second wife also named Elizabeth. At any rate, Thomas Waring mentions his granddaughter Elizabeth Arnold, but not his daughter Elizabeth Arnold, in his 1714 will.
References
The Registers of Stratford-on-Avon in the County of Warwick. Marriages, 1558-1812. (Richard Savage, trans.) (London, 1898).
Stratford upon Avon parish registers, FHL film 1067507, Family History Library, Salt Lake City, Utah.
Southam, Warwickshire parish registers; digital image Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 23 March 2014) citing Warwickshire County Record Office; Warwick, England; Warwickshire Anglican Registers; Roll: Engl/2/1018; Document Reference: DRO 50.
Will of John Arnold the elder of Southam, farrier, 1761, Lichfield Consistory Court, FHL Film 96142, Family History Library, Salt Lake City, Utah. (I give a transcription on Nathaniel’s father’s page.)
Will of Nathaniel Arnold, farrier of Southam. Proved 1738 in the Consistory Court of Lichfield and Coventry.
Will of Thomas Waring farrier of Shipston on Stour. Proved in the Worcester Consistory Court 1714. Digital images on FamilySearch.org accessed 18 August 2018.