Quilt Arnold

Quilt Arnold was one of the chief assistants of 18th century London's master criminal and thief-taker Jonathan Wild. Very little is known about his life and what details we do have come by way of Jonathan Wild himself. The best secondary work of reference is Gerald Howson's biography of Jonathan Wild. [Howson, Gerald (1970). "Thief-Taker General: The Rise and Fall of Jonathan Wild", London: Hutchinson and Co.]

We know that sometime in 1716 Arnold was taken on by Wild and given the responsible position of "Clerk of the Northern Roads". [Howson 146,177] Wild would have told the authorities that Arnold's remit was to keep the Northern Roads clear of thieves but his main task was to organise crime along them.

Arnold was instrumental in the arrest of Wild's arch-rival Jack Sheppard on 22 July 1724. He nearly died when Sheppard fired a pistol at him but the pistol flashed in the pan and Sheppard was apprehended. [Howson 214] On 22 October of the same year he arrested Joseph "Blueskin" Blake. [Howson 217] Blake subsequently attempted to cut Jonathan Wild's throat but his pen-knife was blunt and Wild survived.

In early 1725 Arnold and Wild helped a certain Roger Johnson to escape from the custody of a constable in the "Three Crowns" at Stratford-le-Bow. It is not clear whether they started a riot or rescued Johnson with pistols. As a result of this incident, Arnold was arrested along with Wild on 15 February 1725. He applied for bail on 1 April but was refused. [Howson 235]

Wild was executed on 24 May 1725 but Arnold was eventually released. There was a rumour that he was contracted to marry Mary Wild - Jonathan Wild's widow - but whether this was true or not, or whether the marriage ever took place, is unknown. [Howson 277]

With Wild dead, Arnold attempted to take up thief-taking on his own account but ran afoul of an Edward Burnworth who was similarly occupied. The last we hear of Arnold is his being the loser in an alehouse encounter with Burnworth in March 1726 where he was forced to drink brandy and gunpowder at pistol point and then knocked down. [Howson 290-291]

Arnold's dates of birth and death are unknown. Given his senior position with Jonathan Wild in 1716 he was perhaps born sometime around 1690. He does not appear in any court records or newspapers after 1726 but it would be pure speculation to assume his death at around this time.

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