The founder of this great firm was knighted by the Queen in 1858, and made C.B. In 1887 he was raised to the peerage as Baron Armstrong of Cragside. His mansion and estate of Cragside is at Rothbury, and it is fitted up with the electric light and every convenience of wealth and taste. Armstrong's peculiar partnership between government and the Elswick Works was brought to a close in 1863, since which time the progress of the firm has been continuous. In 1882 an amalgamation took place between the Elswick Works and the firm of Charles Mitchell & Co., shipbuilders at Low Walker. Dr Mitchell, who was a native of Aberdeen, and a munificent donor to Newcastle and Aberdeen, was one of the directors of Armstrong, Mitchell, & Co. till his death in 1895. This firm are now the leading warship builders in the world. Krupp's works at Essen (described in the earlier part of this book) are the only parallel to them in Europe. The engineering works, begun, as we have seen, in 1847, now occupy about nine acres; the ordnance works, founded ten years later, occupy about forty acres; while about five thousand men are employed. The shipbuilding yards are at Low Walker, nearer the sea. The hydraulic machinery for the Tower Bridge and the Manchester Ship Canal were both produced by this great firm. Some years ago one of his biographers wrote: 'He entertains the great institutes of England when they visit his native city on royal lines, in regal splendour. His works at Elswick enjoy all modern improvements. His home at Jesmond is the abode of art, literature, and luxury. When his health complained under its heavy load, he cultivated agriculture, botany, and forestry for recreation; bought an estate at Rothbury, where the kindly invigorating air had healed him in days gone by; converted the barren hills into an earthly paradise; lighted his Cragside mansion with Swan's lamp and his own hydraulic power; applied water-power to his conservatory, that his plants might secure the sun. But amid all the luxuries which surround him, his life is as simple as nature; and now, at the ripe age of seventy-three, he maintains the freshness and elasticity of youth. He was wont to run like a deer along the moors of Allenheads to examine the target fired at by the original Armstrong gun.' Lord Armstrong has been honoured both at home and abroad, and has done much for the amenity of Newcastle; and Jesmond Dene, part of his Jesmond estate, was thrown open to the public by the Prince of Wales while his guest at Cragside. The high-level bridge, giving easy access to the park for the town, cost £20,000. Other benefactions have been £12,500 towards a museum; a hall for the literary society, a mechanics' institute, schools at Elswick, &c.