William George Armstrong (1810-1900)
Armstrong was born in Newcastle on the 26 November 1810 Around 1846 Armstrong took an interest in hydraulics and wealthy North East individuals backed him in the development of hydraulic cranes. After the Crimean War Armstrong was involved with the manufacture of armaments and his eighteen pound breach loading gun was one Armstrong weapon recognised as the best in the world. These weapons, tested on northern fells, were bought by armies and navies all over the the world including Russia,Japan and the United States Armstrong supplied both sides in the American Civil War!
He became a success in the field of landscape gardening. This was initially carried out in Newcastle's beautiful Jesmond Dene most of which he owned and where he had built a house for himself and his wife in the 1830s. Jesmond Dene was donated by Armstrong to the people of the city of
Newcastle upon Tyne in 1883.
The later years of Armstrong's life were spent in his superb parkland mansion of Cragside near Rothbury in Northumberland which was the first house in the world to be lit by Electric power.Sir Charles Parsons
Is a well known industrial pioneer of the North East he was an apprentice to William Armstrong. Later he became a partner in the Tyneside firm of Clarke Chapman and it was here in 1884 that he developed the steam Turbine to generate electricty.
The advantage of the Turbine engine was especially recognised for its potential use in the propulsion of ships. The first vessel to use such an engine was the Turbinia built by the Parson's Marine Steam Turbine Company at Wallsend in 1897. The vessel was put to the test in marine trials off Spithead in that year and acheived a record speed of 34 knots. Later ships to use the Parsons Turbine included the Wallsend built Mauretania of 1907, a liner which held the Blue Riband for the fastest crossing of the Atlantic for twenty two years.
In terms of the history of shipping Charles Parson's Turbine plays an important part but it has an even greater place in history as one of the greatest steps forward in the development of electric power generators. When we consider that Power Stations using Parsons Turbines are still supplying heat, light and electic power to homes and industries throughout the world we can understand the justification for describing Parsons as `the man who invented twentieth Century.'
The Turbinia is on display at Newcastles Discovery museum.
Tyne & Wear museums;
http://www.twmuseums.org.uk/
Another great industrial pioneer of the North East was Joseph Wilson Swan who was born in Sunderland on October 31st 1828 and began his career as an apprentice to a local chemist.Some of Swan's earliest innovations were in the field of photography where he perfected the carbon process of photographic printing and developed the rapid photographic plate. He also patented the first Bromide paper in 1879. His photographic developments were of great importance as they turned photography into a practical pass time and spurred on its popularity.
Swan is however better known for his development of the incandesscent filament electric lamp. This was the first practically usable electric light bulb and the first demonstration of this source of electric light was performed by Swan in Newcastle upon Tyne on February 3rd 1879.
Swan's demonstration proved to be a success and at Benwell he established the world's first electric light bulb factory. Later Mosley Street in Newcastle City Centre became the first street in the world to be lit by electric light. By 1881 Swan's light bulbs arrived in London where 1,200 of them were used in the lighting the Savoy Theatre in front of an astonished audience. From the `Darkness' of the north, came light for London.
George Stephenson (1781-1848) is generally acknowledged as the father of the railways.
The son of a colliery worker he was born at Wylam, eight miles from Newcastle-upon-Tyne, on 9th June, 1781. The cottage where the Stephenson family lived was next to the Wylam Wagonway,.George was ambitious and at the age of eighteen he began attending evening classes where he learnt to read and write.In 1802 Stephenson became a colliery engineman. On 16th October, 1803, his only son, Robert was born.In 1823 Edward Pease, Michael Longdridge, George Stephenson and his son Robert, formed a company to make locomotives. The Robert Stephenson & Company, at Forth Street, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, and became the world's first locomotive builder.The first railway locomotive, Locomotion, was finished in September 1825.
The Stockton & Darlington line was opened on 27th September,1825 the first public railway line in the world.
