On April 4th, Trevor Moody talked to us about ‘Cragside and Lord Armstrong’, providing members with a terrific presentation on the history of Cragside in Northumberland.

Lord William Armstrong (1810-1900) was an inventor, an industrialist and a philanthropist in the Victorian era, when the North East was the powerhouse of Britain – mining lead and coal and building ships. He was an inventor and engineer from childhood and he built bridges and reservoirs, developed innovative machines – many of them hydraulic-powered – worked with a local ship-builder to make the North East one of the prime shipbuilding areas of the world, and developed powerful guns for Great Britain and other countries after the Crimean War. He was knighted in 1859, having given the patents for his guns to the Government.

His life was littered with achievements, and he poured money into the development of a fine home, Cragside, and the surrounding landscaped gardens and estate. The property is full of examples of his inventions – he wasn’t called ‘the Geordie genius’ for nothing!