Arthur Edwin Preston (1852-1942) was the Mayor of Abingdon-on-Thames, Master of Christ's Hospital and an antiquarian and historian.
[1] Son of John (saddler, coach proprietor and tax collector) and Frances Preston (née Prince), he was born in Abingdon on 1 January 1852, at 13 High Street, next to the old Lion Hotel.
In 1891, he lived at the home of his widowed mother at Piccadilly House in Ock Street before marrying Lydia Jacobs of Burford in October 1895.
[1] He was an Alderman of both County and Borough councils and on the Thames Conservancy Board and was made an Honorary Freeman in 1932.
[2] In 1922, he financed a major archaeological project in regard to the demolished 1538 Abbey church and in 1928 helped securing Waste Court for Abingdon School, where he remained as a governor for the rest of his life and was chairman from 1937 to 1939.