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Toynbee (ARNOLD an English reformer)

ARNOLD, an English reformer; born in London, England, Aug. 23, 1852. His early acquirements were mostly in the direction of modern literature and philosophy. He spent two years at a military college, but left on finding that he had mistaken his profession. During the four years he spent at Oxford he became a prominent figure.

Endowed with the gift of fluent speech, he began to address audiences of working men; and to help them, took up residence in Commercial Road, Whitechapel, in 1875, and associated himself with the religious work carried on there by the Rev. S. A. Barnett. From the inspiration of his example and teaching during this period sprang the idea of Toynbee Hall. He died in 1883, owing to overstrain following on two lectures directed against Henry George's "Progress and Poverty." A course of lectures delivered at Oxford between 1881-1882 on the economic history of England, along with other popular addresses, was published in 1884 under the title of "The Industrial Revolution," with Memoir by Jowett.