Lvrd Armstrong. 225 



In 1886 he essayed another phase of public life, and came forward 

 as a candidate for Parliament at the General Election. In compariy 

 with the present Lord Ridley he stood as a Liberal Unionist for his 

 native town. Of that town he had been unquestionably a distinguished 

 benefactor, for, apart from the prosperity which his works had brought 

 to the neighbourhood, he had made many gifts of parks and open 

 spaces to the citizens. Lord Armstrong entered into the campaign 

 with ,zest, when once he had made up his mind to stand, but the 

 election resulted in the return of the two Gladstonians by a consider- 

 able majority. It was generally thought that his position as a large 

 employer of labour militated against the chances of Lord Armstrong in 

 a constituency where the Trade Union vote was so considerable ; but 

 even taking this into consideration, the election is still memorable for 

 its surprising issue. In the following year Lord Armstrong was raised 

 to the peerage, his name appearing among the Jubilee honours. 



The chief scientific studies of the last years of his life were in the 

 subject of electricity. He lectured in the spring of 1893 to the 

 Literary and Philosophical Society of Newcastle on " Some Features of 

 the Electrical Discharge," and was heard by a crowded audience with 

 the most profound attention. He reminded his hearers how, forty-nine 

 years earlier, in 1844, he had exhibited his hydro-electric machine to 

 the same Society, and how the connection of himself and his father 

 with the Society extended over a century. In 1897 he published some 

 of his later electrical researches in book form. 



Lord Armstrong was three times President of the Institute of 

 Mechanical Engineers, and once of the Civil Engineers. He read 

 papers to the British Association, in 1845, upon his hydro-electric 

 machine; in 1854, on the application of water pressure to machinery 

 and in 1882, on the treatment of steel for ordnance and other purposes. 

 He was a clear and interesting lecturer, though he had no gift for 

 extempore speaking. He took a considerable share in the public life of 

 Northumberland, acting as High Sheriff in 1873, and serving for some 

 time as County Councillor for the Rothbury Division, but he declined 

 to be nominated for the Mayoralty of Newcastle. To all good causes 

 in the North he lent his support, and few charities, public or private, 

 appealed to his purse in vain. His attitude towards the great wealth 

 which his talents won for him was such as might be expected from so 

 large-minded a man. He gave away, as has been mentioned, with 

 consistent munificence and entertained with liberal hospitality. Among 

 the most valuable of his donations in the cause of charity was the 

 munificent contribution of 6,500 (afterwards increased to 7,800), to 

 the subscription started in 1885 for the increment of the Scientific Relief 

 Fund of the Royal Society, a fund established in 1859 to benefit scientific 

 men or their families requiring assistance. This excellent organisation, 



