218 Obitiiary Notices of Fellows deceased. 



pronounced, and when, after his school career, he entered a solicitor's 

 office, he continued his scientific studies in the leisure time at his 

 disposal. 



There is no necessity for presuming that young Armstrong was 

 forced into an uncongenial path of life. Mr. Armourer Donkin, to 

 whom he was articled, was a well-known Newcastle solicitor with 

 a good business, and had always shown himself a firm friend of the 

 Armstrong family. The opening which Mr. Donkin's office promised 

 was an exceptional one, and led, in fact, to Lord Armstrong becoming 

 a partner in the firm in 1833. No doubt he acquiesced readily in a 

 scheme which assured him an income, and as events turned out the 

 arrangement really laid the foundations of his future success. Ample 

 leisure was allowed him to devote himself to pursuits outside his 

 profession, and the alliance and support of Mr. Donkin proved of 

 the utmost value to him. When he finally relinquished the law and 

 opened his engineering works, Mr. Donkin contributed a share of the 

 necessary capital, and supported his enterprise in every possible way. 



A stray book, exhumed among some papers at Elswick, contains 

 copies of letters written by Lord Armstrong in the years 1837 and 

 1838. The correspondence is both upon official and personal subjects, 

 ranging from formal missives, signed "Donkiri, Stables and Armstrong," 

 to an order upon Mr. James Poole for a coat, suitable for the 

 general mourning at the death of King William IV. There are not 

 many letters, but the impression given is that the writer was trans- 

 acting a large amount of business for various clients, and transacting 

 it with pains and diligence. Lord Armstrong, there can be no 

 question, must have made an excellent lawyer, even although his heart 

 may not have been entirely in his calling. For he had the mind of an 

 extremely lucid thinker, and a real taste for disentangling intricate 

 questions. One of the letters in the book mentioned above, in treating 

 at some length of a financial matter, handles it with conspicuous 

 clearness, and shows a thorough grasp of the subject. 



Lord Armstrong married in 1835 Margaret Ramshaw, the daughter 

 of a Bishop Auckland gentleman, whose acquaintance he had made 

 during his school days. Eemembering the position to which the young 

 solicitor afterwards attained, it is curious to notice that his choice of 

 a wife was considered a little ambitious. Lady Armstrong was 

 .a woman of strong individuality, and loyally supported her husband 

 in all his undertakings. She was much interested in and liked by the 

 workpeople at Elswick and the villagers at Rothbury, identifying 

 herself with their affairs in a spirit of genuine philanthropy. She died 

 in the autumn of 1893. 



The first scientific discovery which brought the name of Armstrong 

 before the public was his hydro-electric machine, and it is curious that 



