[1][2] The subject of an influential biography,[3] he has been celebrated for his "financial skill and ruthless self-interest",[4] and characterized as "a rapacious, plausible swindler who ruined many during a long and successful criminal career".

He acquired and rebuilt the former Lennox residence at Temple Newsam near Leeds, which became the principal seat of his family, including the Lords Ingram, Viscount Irvine and their descendants, for over 300 years.

He was the second of three sons of Hugh Ingram (died 1614),[7] a prosperous merchant and citizen Tallow Chandler of London who originated from Thorpe-on-the-Hill in Yorkshire.

[8] The eldest son, Sir William Ingram (died 1623), was Doctor of Civil Law (of Trinity College, Cambridge, and the Inner Temple[9]), and became Secretary to the Council in the North.

In 1605, (until 1614) he took over the management of the wine licence patent for Lord Admiral Nottingham,[11] who remarked in 1610 that "the whole and many pains and scandals of the business did ever since the beginning thereof lie upon Mr. Arthur Ingram only, with an incessant trouble to him and his house.

[13] From 1607 until 1615, Ingram was, with Sir Walter Cope (associate of the Earl of Salisbury), contractor for the sale of Crown lands, through which office he acquired several excellent estates.

[16] Serving as collector for dyewood and starch duties in 1607–08, Ingram investigated revenues from the English alum refinery (for use in cloth dyeing processes) then being established in Yorkshire.

[21] He served on several committees for bills touching his own knowledge and interest, and that of his patrons, who by their continuing support taught him the advantage of a parliamentary career.

[24] Following various proposals Ingram, with Walter Cope and Robert Johnson, persuaded the Lords Commissioners to grant them control as contractors under a new adjustment, and in 1613, as the works passed into the King's hands, they became managers for the Crown, and claimed to have invested large sums of their own money.

In the wake of his humiliation at court, Ingram (when not occupied with legal activities in London and the business of parliament) increasingly transferred his operations to Yorkshire.

[37] In 1615 Ingram received the grant of Sheriff Hutton Park, in the Forest of Galtres, and over the next years built the New Lodge there as his country residence.

Lowe complained he had been drawn into the partnership unscrupulously, and in 1618 a scandal broke as it was proved that the Lord Treasurer, the Earl of Suffolk, who was on trial in the Court of Star Chamber for various offences, had engaged in corrupt transactions with Ingram.

[41] Though his management probably brought him little profit or popularity with his employees, he doubled the productivity of the works and built up an export trade, setting the direction for the continuation of the industry.

[43] In the following year his son and heir Arthur was knighted, and in 1622 Ingram made his purchase (for £12,000) of the neglected mansion of Temple Newsam, near Leeds, from Ludovic Stewart, 2nd Duke of Lennox, with its prestigious royal associations as the birthplace of the King's father, and commenced a 12-year rebuilding project there.

[45] The York Corporation, with expressions of appreciation for his goodwill towards them, enlisted his help in resolving differences with Hull over lead and corn, which were brought to a successful conclusion in 1623 through the offices of Lionel Cranfield, now Earl of Middlesex and Lord High Treasurer.

The decorative central doorway, of c1190, was bought from Holy Trinity Priory, Micklegate – its provenance is recorded in the Ingram accounts at Temple Newsam, though there has been an alternative theory that it came from St Giles church, formerly in Gillygate.

In January 1642, fearing for the safety of his family and retinue, King Charles left the London area for the north of the country, and was a guest of Sir Arthur Ingram in his York House for some part of this period.