William, who was always known as Bill, was the elder son of John Arnull and the nephew of Sam, both Derby-winning jockeys.
He became apprenticed to Frank Neal at Newmarket and soon displayed signs of precocious talent - it was difficult for any horse to dislodge him once mounted.
Bill later joined Mr Ladbroke of Surrey, a master of foxhounds and patron of the turf. The opportunities of displaying his horsemanship which the situation afforded were not lost on Bill: he quickly became a bold and fearless rider to hounds.
Mr Ladbroke had horses in training with Richard Dixon Boyce, to whom Bill was certainly indebted for much, if not all, of the subsequent success which h achieved.
The trainer and Bill had married sisters, and the family connection was highly advantageous to a young, rising jockey as he then was.
Riding for such dignitaries as the Prince of Wales and Lord Foley, he was put up on such good horses as Zodiac, Brainworm, Sir David, Selim, Currycomb, Nectar, Allegro, Pericles and Bizarre, firmly establishing his reputation. He also rode for Earl Egremont, the Marquees of Exeter and the Earl of Lichfield. In his latter years his principal employer was Lord George Cavendish for whom he would also train.
Described by some as a jockey lacking the tactical skill required to become a great jockey, he nonetheless rode the winners of nine classic races - three Derbies, three One Thousand Guineas and three Two Thousand Guineas.
Bill was a totally honest rider, and formidable in a finish.
Bill was careful with his money – friends would joke that he would starve all week to save a sovereign. They would tell tramps that William was a very generous, caring person who would never see anyone go hungry, and the tramps would approach Bill for a hand-out. Given Bill's increasingly short temper brought about by the rigours of wasting and the effects of his gout, the tramps would receive short shrift from a starving, irritable jockey. Despite his love of money and his classic-winning success, Bill never became rich, still having to ride at 48.
His temper was irascible and his language tinged with a profane hue: it had doubtless by habit become unobserved to himself if not to others
Bill Arnull’s Derby winners were: 1804 – Hannibal, 1812 – Octavius and, in 1814, Blucher who was named after a Prussian General in the Napoleonic Wars. General Blucher attended Epsom that afternoon to watch his namesake win.
He also won Newmarket’s Riddlesworth Stakes on three occasions (Nectar, 1816, Wanton, 1822 and Spermaceti in 1823) when it carried more prize money than either the 1,000 or 2,000 Guineas.
His 2,000 Guineas winners were Olive (1814), Tigris (1815) and Nectar (1816).
Bill also won the 1,000 Guineas three times: Neva (1817), Young Mouse (1829) and Galata (1832).
His other big wins included three Ascot Gold Cups - Bizarre (1824 & 1825) and Galata (1833). He also won the 1826 Goodwood Cup on Stumps.
A high-spirited boy, his youth was blighted by gout, a condition from which he suffered as a young man and one which would eventually help kill him - he died on 29 April, 1835, from water on the chest. The father of nine children (the youngest, Louise Catherine, only a week old when she became fatherless), Bill left a handsome provision to his grieving widow. The other eight children were Elizabeth (1818-), William (1820-1887), John (1822-) Fanny (1824-1892), Juliana (1826-), Henry (1828-1856), Charles (1831-1863) and Ellen (1832-). Bill had married Elizabeth Susannah Weston (1798 - 1892) on December 1, 1819.
Bill Arnull was the great-grandfather of George and Alexander Arnull.
George and Alexander were working as trainers at the Weinberg stable at the breakout of WW1 and were interned in Hoppegarten, Germany in November 1914. However, their internment only lasted a fortnight – many thoroughbreds had been left abandoned in their own stables and were running amok. The Germans deemed it wiser to release the trainers to look after them than to have them remained interned. After the war George became a famous trainer, sending out 43 Classic winners including nine Duetsches Derbies. Alexander died a few years after being released.
Bill's son William became a trainer. Born in September 1820, he worked, aged 17, in Belgium and France, enjoying much success, before setting up in Middleham as private trainer to Lord Glasgow. On quitting Middleham, William came to Albert House stables in Newmarket and trained in turn for Lords Bradford, Fitzwilliam, Manners and Canterbury. Mr H. E. Beddington was another of his numerous patrons and, for him, William won some good races with Strathern, Brotherhood and Sabella. He brought off his greatest coup when winning the 1872 Cesarewitch with Salvanos for Mr Joseph Ratcliff.
William usually had a few of his own horses in training and, in 1881, bought the brilliant Florence when a yearling for just 20 guineas. He then sold her on to Mr John Hammond for 1,000 Guineas, and was mortified when her real excellence was revealed on the racecourse.
William became severely ill in 1884, and his son Frank took over the yard.
Sadly, his wife died in early 1887. This undoubtedly hastened William's own death, which occurred at 4 a.m. Sunday, 14 August, 1887.
He left three sons: William, the eldest and Ernest, the youngest, both being in Germany. Frank remained in charge of the yard
