Arnold Hills
by Barry BLAKE
Title
Arnold Hills
Artist
Barry BLAKE
Medium
Painting - Oil On Canvas
Description
Arnold Hills is the founder of the football club that my whole family have supported from right back to almost the inception prior to World War 1
In 1880 Hills joined the board of his father's company, Thames Ironworks & Shipbuilding. Living in the East India Dock Road in Canning Town.East London, he became concerned about the living conditions of the local people. Hills was concerned with the poor standard of life enjoyed in the area and commented that "the lack of recreational facilities was one of the worst deprivations in the lives of West Ham residents ,the perpetual difficulty of West Ham is its poverty, it is rich only in its population." Was a quote he became well known for ,and despite not always seeing eye to eye with his growing workforce. around 6,000 earned a living at the Ironworks. He was well respected
. On the death of his father, Hills became the managing director of the Shipbuilding Company, and established the Thames Ironworks Gazette in 1895. It was a combination between a local newspaper, popular history magazine and company newsletter,and on the 29th June, 1895, Hills announced in his newspaper that he intended to establish a football club. The article asked workers interested in joining the Thames Iron Works Football Club.He liked to diversify and had also became President of the London Vegetarian Society,and served as President of a London Vegetarian Rambling Club and founded the magazine, The Vegetarian. Hills was also an active member of the Temperance Society,
In 1900 Arnold Hills decided to expand his business interests by acquiring the engineering firm of John Penn & sons. In order to raise new capital to finance the takeover, he decided to make Thames Iron Works a public company. This meant that in future he would be accountable to shareholders. Hills was no longer in a position where he would be allowed to pump company money into a company football club.As a result of this move, the football club was also reorganized. Thames Iron Works FC became what it is today West Ham United FC.
At the start of the 2016 season West Ham Will move into what was the main Olympic stadium of the London 2012 Games.It has undergone a multi million facelift to make it into a Football Stadium and we are to be the proud new anchor tenants.
Uploaded
April 25th, 2016
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