| AdminHistory | W.G. Armstrong established his first firm, the Newcastle Craneage Company in 1847 at Elswick to manufacture hydraulic cranes. This developed into the Elswick Engine Company and the firm began to offer a wider range of hydraulic equipment to customers. In 1855 Armstrong produced his first rifled field gun and four years later set up the Elswick Ordnance Company to manufacture it. The Engine Company and Ordnance Company later united to form Sir W.G. Armstrong and Company. By the late nineteenth century the firm was manufacturing guns of all types, including naval guns and mountings.
In the 1860s Armstrong and the shipyard of Charles Mitchell & Co. at Low Walker reached an agreement whereby Mitchell ships were armed by the Elswick works and in 1882 the two firms joined together to become Sir W.G. Armstrong Mitchell and Company Ltd. In 1883 shipbuilding operations expanded with the opening of the firm's Elswick Shipyard, which went on to build warships for navies around the world. This was made possible by the replacement of the old Tyne Bridge with a Swing Bridge, which itself was constructed at the Elswick Works. In 1884 the company also added a Steel Works to its premises at Elswick.
In 1896 the firm was briefly renamed Sir W.G. Armstrong and Company before becoming Sir W.G. Armstrong Whitworth and Company Ltd following amalgamation with Sir Joseph Whitworth and Company of Manchester. The firm continued to expand is operations and in 1902 began manufacturing Armstrong Whitworth cars and trucks. By the early 1900s the Elswick Shipyard was becoming less convenient for the construction of ever larger warships and the firm established a new yard at High Walker. The Walker Naval Yard opened in 1914 and the Elswick Shipyard closed shortly after the end of the First World War.
During the First World War the firm's Elswick Works were transformed to meet Britain's need for ammunition. Around 57,000 men and 21,000 women were employed during the conflict in order to produce the required guns, mountings, shells, cartridge cases, fuzes, warships and tanks. With the end of the War in 1918 Armstrong Whitworth diversified into products for peacetime such as locomotives. These were difficult times, though for the Engine Works at Elswick. In 1919 the firm took over the Glasgow engineering firm A. and J. Main & Co. and as a result much engineering work was transferred from Elswick to Armstrong & Main in Scotland.
In 1928 Sir W.G. Armstrong Whitworth and Company amalgamated with its former rival Vickers Ltd. The new company was known as Vickers Armstrongs Ltd. Some parts of Armstrong Whitworth remained outside the new company and these came under the control of the newly created Armstrong-Whitworth Securities Company Ltd.
The merger of Vickers and Armstrong Whitworth led to rationalisation and one result of this was the transfer in 1930 of variable speed gear manufacture from Crayford to the Elswick Works. More significant perhaps was the impact on the Walker Naval Yard. Following the merger the Walker yard was shut for long periods as it was regarded within the new company as secondary to the yard at Barrow, which was kept in work permanently where possible. By the end of the 1930s, however, orders were picking up again with conflict in Europe looming and rearmament under way.
During the Second World War the Tyneside works of Vickers Armstrongs Ltd were devoted to the war effort, producing warships, guns, naval gun mountings, shells, bombs, cartridge cases, fuzes, aircraft undercarriages and tanks. After the War, tank and naval armament production continued at Elswick and Scotswood and the firm also manufactured a vast array of engineering products. In 1968 the Walker Naval Yard formed part of a merger deal made by Vickers with Swan Hunter Shipbuilders and a new company, Swan Hunter and Tyne Shipbuilders Ltd came into being. The 18 percent shareholding that Vickers had in this group was sold at the end of 1969 and with it control of the Walker Yard passed to the Swan Hunter Group.
In 1979 the Scotswood Works were closed and demolition started in 1981 to make way for a new Vickers Defence Systems factory, the Armstrong Works. The new factory opened on 24 November 1982 at the west end of Scotswood Road, Newcastle for the manufacture of tanks and commercial engineering products and the Elswick Works closed soon afterwards. The Armstrong Works closed in 2014. |