Arnold Pick

1845 - 1891

One of the most successful businessmen in Bourne during the Victorian era was Arnold Pick. He arrived here as a youth with less than £5 in his pocket but his reputation as an agricultural engineer eventually extended throughout Lincolnshire and other parts of the country.

The business began in modest premises in Star Lane, now Abbey road, but when he died, Arnold Pick and Company, wholesale and retail ironmongers and implement agents, had premises at No 30 North Street with an adjoining blacksmith's forge underneath the arch. 

Apart from his business, Pick was second engineer of the town’s fire brigade and an ardent supporter of the Methodist Chapel where he was a regular worshipper and benefactor, always ready to help financially as well as spiritually. He was also the owner of the Marquis of Granby public house in Abbey Road, having bought it when the previous owner got into financial difficulties. Bourne County Court ordered that the property be sold and it came up for public auction at the Crown Inn at Bourne on 21st February 1878 when Pick bought it for £390 although he never actually served behind the bar, preferring to install a manager to run the premises.

He died at the early age of 46 on Saturday 7^th February 1891 after suffering a severe stroke. The previous night, after locking up his premises at 10 pm, he bade goodnight to his brother David and shortly afterwards was found lying on the ground, conscious but unable to speak. Dr Robert Brown was summoned and he was carried into the house where he died the following evening. Reporting his death, the Stamford Mercury also paid an effusive tribute to his time in Bourne:

This sudden and fatal termination caused painful surprise, as the deceased was of a robust constitution and temperate habits. The career of Mr Arnold Pick affords a conspicuous local example of the success that attends persevering industry and enterprise. He gradually built up one of the most flourishing businesses in the town, his reputation as an agricultural engineer extending far beyond his own locality. He combined, with a benevolent disposition, acute sagacity in affairs, and his judgment on local questions was greatly valued.

He expanded trade to cater for the increasing popularity of the motor car and when he died in 1926, the premises were acquired by T A Stocks, motor agent, a firm established six years before with branches at Lincoln and Boston.

They were still in occupation in 1937 when the A15 which ran past the front was becoming busier with motorised traffic. There was a petrol pump outside with an arm that was swung out over the road to supply fuel for passing motorists and a sign on the upper storey with the name Stocks (1920) Ltd has survived. The premises were later used by Davies, the ironmongers, and in more recent years by Rowland's, the Sewing Centre which closed in March 2004, although the old forge under the arch has also been a herbal dispensary, a cut price electrical retailers, the doll's house centre called Miniatures and now a gift shop.

See also     No 30 North Street      Ernest Foley

Go to:     Main Index    Villages Index