High Esteem
Robert Spence Watson, the local reformer, politician and writer, and an associate of Armstrong, remarked that, by this period, the local papers of the day referred to Armstrong as "Our talented young townsman".4 Indeed, just a few years after the establishment of the Elswick Works he was held in high esteem in engineering and industry circles, attending important events and fraternising with other prominent local figures.
A list of toasts from a dinner held for the Chairman of the Coal Trade, held at the Assembly Rooms in Newcastle on 22nd October 1850, shows that Armstrong was in attendance at the event and was given the honour of addressing one of the after-dinner toasts, to the Railway Interest. Armstrong would have dined well that evening, for the dinner menu confirms this to have been a lavish affair, suggesting something of the lifestyle to which, by now, Armstrong would have been becoming accustomed.5
