Armstrongs of Elswick. Growth in engineering and armaments to the merger with Vickers

Notes:

Scholarly account from establishment of the Armstrong business in 1847, through merger with Whitworths in 1897, to reorganisation and merger with Vickers in 1928. Focuses especially on organisational and managerial issues. Structured in four parts with introduction: 'Introduction - British industrial decline and the armaments trade'; Part 1] 'Establishment, expansion and diversification of Armstrongs, 1847-85' - foundation of armaments business / 'A managerial team' / 'Beginnings of shipbuilding' / 'Integration to the mid 1880s' / 'Organisation of the Armstrong Company - the role of Andrew Noble'; Part 2] 'Integration, organisational problems and new competitors, 1885-1905' - 'The emergence of Vickers' / 'Acquisition and integration - the transformation of the armaments trade, 1896-1904' / 'Elswick leadership, 1895-1903' / 'Problems of an early multinational - the origins of Armstrong's Italian venture' / 'Pozzuoli, 1890-1905'; Part 3 'Difficulties and adjustments, 1905-14' - 'Organisation and efficiency in complex and multiplant operations' / 'Managerial skills - Armstrongs and Vickers' / 'A new 'complete' armament firm - Beardmores of Parkhead' / 'Armstrongs and Beardmore'; 'Italian business, 1905-14' / 'Accommodating increases in the scale of naval shipbuilding - the question of a new yard' / 'Completion of integration - marine engine manufacture' / 'Company and regional diversification - the case of automobile manufacture' / 'New blood and the 'succession' to 1909' / 'The salaries crisis and the 'concordant' of 1910-12'; Part 4] 'The First World War and the transformation of the firm, 1914-28' - 'Armstrong Whitworth in the First World War' / 'Early stages of reconstruction and diversification in the post war era' / 'The problems of diversifying into commercial lines - the instance of Scotswood locomotives' / 'Italian business in the twenties' / 'The Newfoundland project' / 'The crisis at Armstrongs to late 1925' / 'Into the depths - the threat of collapse' / 'The reconstruction of Armstrongs and the rationalisation of the heavy armament business in 1927 and 1928' / 'Armstrong Whitworth and Vickers Armstrong after the merger' / 'Epilogue'. An appendix provides a substantial chronology of commercial and financial events, 1847-1928. Another appendix lists directors, 1883-1929