William George Armstrong, one of the owners and inhabitants of Bamburgh Castle, which we visited a few days ago, and 1st Baron of Cragside, is one of those blokes who make me question whether I’ve done enough with my life. Not that I dine at the same table as Bill, of course, but the sheer breadth (and depth) of his interests and skills was breathtaking.
Born in 1810 in Sheffield to a corn merchant, Bill became a solicitor, then an engineer, then an industrialist and philanthropist. His love of water and hydraulics gave birth to his first material financial success, a hydraulic crane, which he sold into shipping docks all around the world. His fortune, celebrity and ennoblement (to baron) came from the design and production of canon (the first rifled breech loader in the world) and naval destroyers. Bill’s “Elswick Works” factory employed 25,000 people, and his organisation, after his death and subsequent company mergers etc. created the Supermarine Spitfire (after they bought Supermarine) and today, via BAE, builds British submarines. What a legacy!
His gravestone carries an epitaph: “His scientific attainments gained him a world wide celebrity and his great philanthropy the gratitude of the poor.”, however before his death he said of himself, “had there been no Cragside, I shouldn’t be talking to you today – for it has been my very life”, and it’s at his Cragside home, I think, where us commoners can get a visceral sense of the dimensions of the man.
At a time (circa 1870) when private homes relied on gas, oil or candles, Cragside had electric lighting (the first private installation in the world), a dishwasher, washing machine, vacuum cleaner, electric heating and dehumidifying. The power came from a hydroelectric system comprising five artificial lakes feeding a turbine and dynamo. The two upper lakes are fed from natural springs via a timber flume.
A hydraulic (water) lift provides easy access to three of the house’s six stories; there’s a hydraulic dumbwaiter, rotisserie and laundry equipment, and the pot plants in the heated greenhouses rotate hydraulically so the fruit trees get 360-degree sun – all powered by an impressive hydraulic engine and pumps.
In 1884, the Cragside guest room for the Prince and Princess of Wales, although not perhaps as large as they were used to, had hot and cold water, a flushing toilet and electric lights and heating. Palace staff must have copped a proper bollocking when the couple returned home (and strict renovation instructions).
It’s tempting to peg Bill as a straight-up techo-boffin (if only to feel better about myself), but that was not the case. The interior design and accompanying art collections are exquisite (see photos), and 1000 acres of carefully curated forest (he planted over seven million trees and shrubs), paths, stairways, rock gardens, greenhouses, bridges and lakes indicate something other than a poo-brown jacket with leather elbow patches and plastic pocket protectors. Although, if I’m honest, I did find the house layout a bit labyrinthine. I’m sure Bill would’ve been happy to hear me out on that one had he been around.
An environmentally conscious, nature-loving, art-savvy, tech-head, arms manufacturer, billionaire industrialist, nobleman. That’s an A4 business card right there.
We had a delightful day driving out through the Northumberland countryside and exploring the house and grounds of Cragside. It was very unexpected, a tip off from a couple of random travel encounters, and nothing like either of us has ever seen before and…it snowed!
“Make the power of great waterfalls obedient to the will of man” – Bill