If ever there was a man in the history of Arsenal who has been unjustly condemned by commentators it is Henry Norris. He is portrayed as a crook and a charlatan, and yet in reality he was a self-made businessman, the longest serving regional mayor that London ever had, a significant player in Britain’s victory in the first world war, and the man without whom there would be no Arsenal football club, as he rescued the club from administration in 1910, rebuilt it with his own money, and moved the club to Highbury.
And by chance there are three anniversaries that fall on 4 June which give snapshots of the life and work of Henry Norris.
4 June 1915: On this day Henry Norris launched a recruitment campaign in the West London and Fulham Times gathering men for the new 177th (Fulham) Royal Field Artillery Brigade. In all Norris was responsible for raising and providing basic training for three separate brigades in this way all at his own expense. It was for this work that he was knighted two years later, to the day – and that not just because of his efforts in raising and training the brigades, but because he paid for the whole operation himself, using the profits he had made through his property development company in Fulham.
It should be remembered that when the war broke out there was no conscription into the armed forces: the country was very proud of the fact that it had a professional army and navy, not a conscripted one. But of course such a military was never designed to deal with a war as great as that which evolved from 1914 onward, and so the addition of three brigades, all raised and trained by a private individual was an enormous step forward.
One should also remember that some employers (including some footbal clubs) were at the time telling their employees that if they did volunteer for the army, they would immediately lose their jobs and not be allowed back, when the war was over.
4 June 1917: Henry Norris was knighted in the birthday honours list in recognition of his unstinting work in evolving and developing the idea for and then raising the first footballers battalion. Other such battalions had since followed from that mentioned above.
4 June 1920: In a seemingly unique event, Sir Henry Norris spoke about his source of income, this being rents from property his company had built in Fulham. He made it clear on this day that his wealth was not inherited but had arisen from his inventiveness but in seeing the need for extra housing and evolving a simple method to pay for the developments. The houses were erected in groups of ten, with the first eight being sold to pay for the development, and the remaining two being rented out, to give the property company a continuing income.