Biography

Arnold was a ship­wright in the dock­yard in Ports­mouth, Hamp­shire, Eng­land.

He lived in Nile Street, Land­port, and was choir­mas­ter at the Da­ni­el Street Wes­ley­an Cha­pel.

He com­posed ma­ny of his tunes while at work, and was ac­cus­tomed to write them down with his car­pen­ter’s pen­cil on a piece of board.

His tune Sar­ah was the first to be re­cord­ed this way, and the board con­tain­ing it was long pre­served by a friend of Ar­nold’s, a Mr. John­son.

Arnold’s mu­sic was first pub­lished in 1800, or short­ly there­af­ter, in Orig­in­al Psalm and Hymn Tunes.