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May Arnold

Played by Lois Chimimba

Fact title Fact data
Date of birth
30 March 1896
Place of birth
Glasgow
Age at outbreak of WW1
18
Occupation
Cafe proprieter
Address
Bouverie Road East, Folkestone

A real historical figure, May Arnold was the widow of Frederick Arnold, an American soldier fighting with the Canadian Army, who was shot for desertion in 1916. May married Frederick on the same day that her sister Harriet (Louie) married Claude Crombie, another Canadian soldier (an émigré who had grown up in Yorkshire). On both marriage certificates, the under-age sisters had claimed that their father was deceased, possibly in order not to have to chase him down for permission.

Following Frederick’s death, May had moved to Folkestone, to be near her sister and brother-in-law, and their baby Eric, and is just 21 at the time of Season 10.