Newcastle Famous People Flashcards
Richard Grainger
Richard Grainger (1797–1861) was a prominent builder in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. His impact on the city’s architecture and urban development during the 19th century is significant.
Early Life and Career:
Grainger was born on October 9, 1797, in High Friar’s Lane. His parents were Thomas Grainger, a Quayside porter, and Amelia Burt, a seamstress.
At the age of 12, he began his apprenticeship as a carpenter.
In 1816, he started his business as a builder in partnership with his brother George. After George’s death, Richard continued independently.
His first major contract was constructing houses in Higham Place for Alderman Batson, a prominent Newcastle Methodist.
Key Projects:
The death of George Anderson in 1831 opened up new opportunities. Anderson’s land in the north end of the town became available for development.
Grainger’s vision extended beyond individual buildings. He aimed to transform the heart of Newcastle.
The result was Grainger Town, a Neoclassical ensemble of streets and buildings.
By 1834, Grainger had amassed considerable wealth, owning property worth £200,000.
His legacy lives on in the architectural gems that define Newcastle’s character.
Charles Earl Grey
More recognised for Earl Grey tea which he made famous. He reputedly received a gift, probably a diplomatic present, of tea that was flavoured with bergamot oil. Promoted by his wife whilst entertaining as an MP’s wife in London and Howick Hall. It became so popular that he asked British tea merchants to recreate it. He never made any money out of it, wasn’t patented and was owned by Twining’s.
Charles Grey was born in Alnwick in 1764 (35 miles), and died, aged 81, in 1845, son of a wealthy landowner
Educated at Eton and Christchurch, Oxford
Marries Mary Ponsonby has 16 children. 13 of whom reached adulthood.
Before he was married, Grey was also the lover of Whig Georgina Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire, and fathered her daughter Eliza (b.1791) - she was sent to France to give birth. Eliza given to his parents to raise and did not know of her own parentage until her mothers death (her mother did visit in secret ‘acting as a godmother type role’).
Grey was elected to Parliament for the Northumberland constituency on 14 September 1786, aged just 22
Was an MP and Prime Minister 1830-34, party Whig, seat was at Howick Hall in Northumberland, later a Liberal MP
Famous for leading and campaigning for wide-ranging changes to the nation’s unfair electoral system
Great Reform Bill 1832
in Newcastle the numbers went up from 3,000 to 5,000, which isn’t a vast changes (and still no women) (or working class),
In 1832 - only men of a certain status and location
In 1866 - all voters had to be male adults over 21 years of age with property .
Continued to extend the Act until 1921 when all men and women over 21 could vote
Anti Slavery
Other reforming measures included restrictions on the employment of children
abolition of slavery in the British Empire in 1833.
Lord William Armstrong
William George Armstrong, 1st Baron Armstrong, was a prominent English inventor, engineer, industrialist, scientist, and philanthropist.
Born on November 26, 1810, in Newcastle upon Tyne, he was the son of a corn merchant who later became the mayor of Newcastle in 18501.
Armstrong was initially educated in law but his passion for engineering led him to invent the hydraulic crane and the Armstrong Gun, revolutionizing modern artillery.
William George Armstrong is Britain’s forgotten genius. He was a visionary inventor, engineer, scientist and businessman who bestrode the 19th-century world like a colossus, bringing global renown to his great Elswick works on the north bank of the Tyne – and becoming in the process a national hero. In its heyday, Elswick employed over 25,000 people in the manufacture of hydraulic cranes, ships and armaments.
Armstrong built Newcastle’s Swing Bridge and the hydraulic mechanism that operates London’s Tower Bridge.
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 King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra.
He restored Bamburgh Castle on the Northumberland coast, often described as England’s finest castle.
The gift of Jesmond Dene to the people of Newcastle, the founding of Armstrong College (which evolved into Newcastle University), and the endowment of seven hospitals, including the Royal Victoria Infirmary, and the Hancock Museum of Natural History (now the Great North Museum) were among his countless acts of philanthropy.
Armstrong became Britain’s largest industrialist and one of the wealthiest men in Europe. He was the first engineer – indeed, the first scientist – to be raised to the peerage. Those who dismiss him as a fabulously rich arms manufacturer who treated his workers with contempt fail to acknowledge the vast benefits that he brought to his native Newcastle, to his country, and to the human race at large.
When he died, on 27 December 1900, at the age of 90 – a few weeks before Queen Victoria – The Times said in its obituary: ‘With his death Newcastle loses her greatest citizen and the country at large one of the worthies of the expiring century.’
Why Armstrong matters
* He was ‘the inventor of modern artillery’ (The Times).
* He was an environmentalist 150 years in advance of his time, advocating water and solar power as substitutes for fossil fuels.
* He built Cragside in Northumberland, the first house in the world to be lit by hydroelectricity.
* He was the world’s first international arms dealer, forging business links with governments around the world, from Brazil to Japan.
* He created the mechanisms that operate London’s Tower Bridge and Newcastle’s Swing Bridge.
* He restored England’s finest castle – Bamburgh, on the Northumberland coast.
* He employed more than 25,000 people at his Elswick Works on the Tyne, a powerhouse of the British Empire.
* He founded Newcastle University, which began life as the College of Science.
