This book explores the stories and legacies behind some of the significant figures from North East England who were responsible for establishing the region at the forefront of innovation. Lavishly illustrated throughout, it provides an interesting background to their achievements.

Published in September 2023 by Amberley Publishing and written by Colin Alexander and Bob Kelley, this soft cover book measures around 23.4 cm x 16.5 cm, and has 96 pages and 100 illustrations. It has a published price of £15.99 although Amberley Publishing currently has it on offer at £14.39, and at the time of writing, it can be obtained from Amazon for £12.29.

In 14 chapters, the book describes both familiar and unfamiliar notable people from North East England, from Bede in the 7th/8th century through to the great shipbuilding dynasty of Swan Hunter.

They include from the 18th century Dr John Sharp and mine owners Sydney Wortley, Sir Henry Liddell and George Bowes, collectively referred to as the Grand Allies. From the 18th/19th centuries are William Wouldhave and Henry Francis Greathead, John Buddle ‘The King of the Coal Trade’, William Hedley, Timothy Hackworth, Richard Granger and John Dobson, and William, Lord Armstrong. From the 19th/20th centuries are Joseph Swan, Sir Charles Parsons, Gertrude Bell, Swan Hunter, and T. Dan Smith. The latter more than any other individual in the book exemplifies the term ‘Innovator’ as he had the vision to redevelop Newcastle city centre.

The authors describe the individuals in the book as innovators rather than inventors, as so many of the developments for which the book’s subjects were responsible were often not tangible objects but ideas that resulted in a great change.

By no stretch of the imagination could Bede be termed an inventor, but he was certainly an innovator as he introduced Christianity to Britain and was also born in the north-east at either Wearmouth or Jarrow. Remarkably, part of Bede’s Saxon church is still standing, as seen on the left below, while on the right is his tomb in Durham Cathedral.

The joint chapter on William Wouldhave and Henry Francis Greathead sheds light on two men whose inventions are responsible for saving thousands of lives – the lifeboat – with men coming from North East England, The judges of a competition to design a practical lifeboat could not decide on a winner, so both men were jointly awarded first prize.

The world’s oldest surviving lifeboat was designed by Greathead and is preserved in the North East at Redcar as shown on the left below, whilst on the right is the second-oldest, which was designed by Wouldhave and is also preserved in the North East, at South Shields.

Many people associate North East England with the birthplace of Britain’s railways and George and Robert Stephenson. But before the advent of the Rocket, William Hedley had built several locomotives to replace the use of horse-drawn wagons to transport coal from Wylam colliery to staiths on the River Tyne. One such locomotive is shown at the top left below, while the bottom image shows a replica of his Puffing Billy.

The chapter on Richard Granger and John Dobson explains how they envisaged turning Newcastle into what one newspaper described as a ‘City of Palaces’, with the city’s buildings sitting harmoniously alongside each other such as in the photos below. Grainger is also perpetuated in Grainger Street, from where the top-right photo was taken.

One of the North East’s great visionaries was William, Lord Armstrong, who 150 years ago realised that the power of water and gravity could be harnessed to produce energy. His company were active in many spheres, exemplified by the pages below which show on the left the machinery that raised and lowered the bascules of London’s Tower Bridge, while at the top-right is a torpedo ram cruiser built in 1885 for the Austro-Hungarian Navy, and at the bottom right is a car built in 1906, soon after Armstrong’s death.

This book provides an enthralling insight into the individuals who went some way to making North East England the industrial giant that it became. But the book is more than just about heavy industry, as it begins rather surprisingly with the Venerable Bede, who is probably the least unlikely person to be included in a volume such as this as he fully deserves his place as having introduced Christianity to Britain.

As in the rest of the book, the illustrations are superb and well-chosen whilst the and descriptive text is very informative and well written.

At first sight the lack of a chapter on father and son George Robert Stephenson seems surprising, but the authors have sensibly omitted them from this volume as their story has been told many times elsewhere. The only woman represented is Gertrude Bell who was born in 1868 and became an archaeologist most famously for her work in the Middle East.

The book is available to purchase from Amazon and from Amberley Publishing.

We would like to thank Amberley Publishing for providing us with a copy of the book for review.