International arms dealer

The 12-pounder Armstrong gun & carriageWhen in 1862 the government ended its contract with the Elswick Works, Armstrong went on to sell armaments indiscriminately to foreign countries. Although this seemed controversial to some, Armstrong felt justified in doing so. He reasoned that:

"it is in our province, as engineers, to make the forces of matter obedient to the will of man; and those who use the means we supply must be responsible for their legitimate application". 8

Many agreed and appreciated his achievements but Armstrong's contribution to developing the tools of warfare would cast an inevitable shadow over his otherwise bright memory. Upon his death in 1900, the Newcastle Daily Chronicle remarked:

"There is something that appals the imagination in the application of a cool and temperate mind like Lord Armstrong's to the science of destruction." 9


Although later in its existence Armstrong took less of a personal involvement in the day-to-day running of the business, he was fiercely proud of the Elswick Works and what he had achieved there. During the visit of the Prince and Princess of Wales to Newcastle in 1884 he stated that:

"an inspection of our places of industry which omits a view of the Elswick Works is rather like the play of Hamlet, with the part of the prince left out".10