Sir W. Armstrong and Company. Important Statement by the Head of the Firm.

Progress, Volume IV, Issue 7, 1 May 1909, Page 231

Sir W. Armstrong and Company. Important Statement by the Head of the Firm.

The Firm's Works. One of the most remarkable personalities of the last century was Sir William Armstrong, who gave so much of his attention to the science and practice of making heavy artillery. In his wav he was as remarkable as Krupp, the founder of the great establishment at Essen. What the works established by the late Sir W. Armstrong and his associates are like our illustrations of to-day give a fair idea. What they are capable of doing in the ship building line the head of the firm has lately stated with prompt reassurance to the British Government. In their establishments they can with a little addition and alteration put these in a position to turn out four Dreadnoughts every year. Seeing that this is

one half of the largest programme mentioned in the numerous discussions on the subject in the House of Commons and outside, it is not wonderful that Sir E. Greystated his satisfaction the other day with the fact, recently ascertained by the Government — that the capacity of the ship yards of Britain is equal to any possible demand. As is the Armstrong firm in the matter of ships, so it is also in the matter of guns. The big gun has been a speciality of the firm from the first. It was so made by the illustrious founder, Sir William Armstrong, whose name has been associated with heavy ordnance for half a century. The name rose into prominence before the close of the Crimean War, when the ' ' Armstrong Gun" was first brought to public notice. In 1858, the gun was adopted by the British Army and the inventor knighted and placed at the head of the Ordnance department with a salary of £2,000 a year. This necessitated retirement from the establish-