Harry Edward Arnhold - Biography

Harry Edward Arnhold (born 16 January 1879 in Hong Kong) was for five years the chairman of the Shanghai Municipal Council, the body that administered the Shanghai International Settlement in Shanghai, China; the chairman of Arnhold & Co., which is now Arnhold Holdings Ltd.; and the chairman of the Shanghai Land Investment Company, which owned the Broadway Mansions apartment building in the Hongkou District of Shanghai. Arnhold was a close business associate of Sir Victor Sassoon, and managed various Sassoon enterprises.

Personal details

Harry Edward Arnhold (born 16 January 1879 in Hong Kong), was a British Jew of German ancestry. He was the son of Anne and Jacob Arnhold (died July 1903 at London), nephew of Phillip Arnhold (died on 29 March 1910 at Altona, Hamburg in Germany), and brother of Charles Herbert Arnhold (born 19 September 1881 in London). Arnhold was educated in Britain.

Harry Arnhold's first marriage was to Mary Oldham. This marriage ended in divorce. Arnhold's second marriage was to Martha (Esther) Jean Arnhold, who survived his death.

Career

Arnhold, Karberg & Co.

Arnhold & Karberg & Co. was founded as a German-registered company in September 1866 on Shameen Island in Canton (Guangzhou) by Jacob Arnhold and Peter Karsberg, and opened branches in Hong Kong (1867) and Shanghai (1881), and had 37 branches by 1901, including branches in Hankow, Tientsin (Tianjin), Peking (Beijing), Mukden, London and New York. From 1897 to 1910, at least one of the Arnhold family was chairman of the company's board of directors: Jacob Arnhold (1897-1900), Philipp Arnhold (1900-1905; and 1906-1910); and Harry Edward Arnhold (1905- 1906). Due to hostility to German companies as a consequence of World War I, and the seizure of German companies by the British and their allies, Harry Arnhold and his brother, Charles Herbert Arnhold, "advertised themselves out of the well-known Anglo-German concern, Arnhold, Karberg & Co.". Arnhold, Karberg had four partners: the two Arnhold brothers, who held 43% of the shares; Ernest Goetz, a Swiss born German subject; and Max Niclassen, of Berlin, Germany.

Messrs. H.E. Arnold (China) (1914-1917)

Initially they formed the firm of Messrs. H.E. Arnhold (China).

Arnhold Brothers Limited (China) (1917)

On 1 October 1917, they incorporated Arnhold Brothers Limited (China), in Hong Kong, under the British ordinances, but with headquarters in Shanghai, (which was reconstituted as a British company after 1919. Sir Victor Sassoon became the majority shareholder in 1923 after a merger According to Stella Dong, its "most attractive asset was the Cathay Land Company, ownership of which gave Sir Victor control of a number of apartment buildings and a hotel in the International Settlement as well as choice housing estates in the French Concession." Arnhold's served as a front for Sassoon's political interests in the International Settlement.

Arnhold & Co. (1919)

Harry Arnhold was the initial chairman of Arnhold & Company, a trading company that became a leading distributor of building materials and engineering equipment.

Headquartered in the Arnhold Building at 6 Kiukiang Road, Shanghai until its relocation in 1930 to the third floor of Sassoon House at 1 Nanking Road. Arnhold & Co. flourished until 1949 when, with the change of Government in China, the headquarters relocated to Hong Kong. Mr. Maurice Green who had been associated with the company since the Sassoon takeover, acquired the controlling interest in Arnhold in 1957.

New Engineering and Shipbuilding Works

Arnhold was chairman of the New Engineering and Shipbuilding Works.

Shanghai Land Investment Company

The Shanghai Land Investment Company Limited was formed in December 1888.

Other activities

Shanghai Municipal Council

Arnhold was the chairman of the Shanghai Municipal Council (SMC) from 1929 to 1931, and again from 1934 to April 1937. Arnhold was popular with "the ratepayer community" in the 1920s. Arnhold was defeated for re-election as a member of the SMC in 1930 for his "reformist" tendencies. He also attracted antisemitic and anti-German hostility. Arnhold's defeat was warmly welcomed, as the diplomats disliked him. 'Not an attractive personality,' noted Sir Miles Lampson, the then British Minister. Arnhold was to re-emerge as a settler community leader in the 1930s, and then back on the SMC from 1932 to 1937, chairing it in 1934-37. Arnhold decided not to contest re-election to the Council in the elections held on 5-6 April 1937.

British Chamber of Commerce (Shanghai)

Arnhold was Chairman of the British Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai (1923);

British Residents' Association

Arnhold served as chairman of the British Residents' Association.

Further reading

• Arnhold, H.E., "Shanghai 1941-45", manuscript, Hoover Institution, Sanford. Imperial War Museum, London. [1]
• Wright, Arnold and HA Cartwright, Twentieth Century Impressions of Hong Kong: History, People, Commerce, Industries & Resources. Lloyd's Greater Britain Publishing, 1908.

External links

• Arnold Holdings Ltd. official website