Who
was He? Engineer,
Inventor and industrialist.
Date and Place
of Birth:
26th
November 1812, Falconer Street, Shieldfield, Newcastle-upon-Tyne,
England.
Family Background: His
father was the owner of a corn merchants business
on the Newcastle Quayside but was particulalrly
interested in Mathematics and Natural history
and was a member of the Literary and Philosophical
Society.
Education:
Articled
to a Solicitor but became an Engineer instead.
Chronology:
1840: Produced a
much-improved hydraulic engine.
1842: Invented an
apparatus for producing electricity from steam.
1845: invented the
hydraulic crane.
1847: Founded the
Elswick Engine works at Newcastle-upon-Tyne which
at first built cranes, bridges and engines but
then went on to manufacture guns especially the
“Armstrong” breach loading gun which was made
up of separate coils of wrought iron.
1882: Shipbuilding
was included at the factory.
1897: The firm amalgamated
with Joseph Whitworth and Co.
(1927): Company merged
again to become Vickers Armstrong Ltd.
Marriage: 1835
to Margaret Ramshaw.
Places of Interest:
NORTHUMBERLAND:
Bamburgh Castle.
Date and Place
of Death:
27th December 1900, Cragside, Northumberland,
England.
Age at Death:
90.
Site of Grave:
All Saints Church, Rothbury, Northumberland next
to his wife. The Armstrong Memorial Cross was
erected in 1902 outside the church by local pepople.
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