Magician of the North is the first full-scale
biography of this extraordinary man. William George
Armstrong was a visionary inventor, engineer and
businessman who bestrode the 19th-century world like a
colossus, bringing global renown to his great Elswick
works on the Tyne, while adding lustre to Britain's
imperial might. In its heyday, Elswick employed 25,000
people in the manufacture of hydraulic cranes, warships
and armaments. He created Cragside in Northumberland,
the first house in the world to be lit by
hydroelectricity, and planted in its grounds seven
million trees. At Cragside his guests included the Shah
of Persia, the King of Siam, the Prime Minister of China
and the future kings Edward VII and George V. This book
is much more, however, than the life of one man. It is
the story of Britain at the height of empire, riding the
crest of industrial success a country awash with
scientific and technological achievements, bursting with
hopes and dreams. It will appeal as much to lovers of
romance as to more practically inclined readers.The
Queen and the Prince Consort played a vital role in
fostering the scientific ferment, but so did characters
such as Michael Faraday, Charles Darwin and Thomas
Huxley. It was the era of the self-made man, and no one
personified Samuel Smiles's doctrine of self-help more
clearly than William Armstrong. |
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