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Armstrong and Vickers: Britain's arms giants
Armstrong gun 1855; Vickers arms from 1888; merged 1927· Arms maker, factory or program· Arms makers & war industry
Well documentedSolid records, physical evidence or scientific consensus.
Two British firms, Armstrong of Newcastle and Vickers of Sheffield and Barrow, that armed Britain and much of the world, merging in 1927.
See it on the Battles & Wars map →What happened
William Armstrong, a Newcastle lawyer turned engineer, designed a rifled breech-loading gun in 1855 that Britain adopted in 1859. His Elswick works built guns and warships for navies from Japan and China to Chile and Italy. Vickers, a Sheffield steel firm, moved into armor plate and guns from 1888, then in 1897 bought the Barrow shipyard and the Maxim machine-gun company. It built Britain's first submarines. Their salesmen sold worldwide, sometimes to both sides of a conflict.
Why it matters
They show how private firms, not just governments, drove the naval arms race and the global arms trade, earning arms makers the 1930s label 'merchants of death'.
How we know
Company archives, government contract records, and surviving ships and guns, such as Japan's Mikasa, preserved at Yokosuka.
Still debated
The full role of agents such as Basil Zaharoff, Vickers' famous arms salesman, remains murky; many of his dealings were secret.
Connections (4)
▸Armstrong and Vickers: Britain's arms giants sold Armstrong guns to both sides in the American Civil WarWell documented
The connection
Armstrong's Elswick works sold rifled guns abroad after Britain cut back its orders. In the Civil War, both Union and Confederate buyers purchased Armstrong guns; the Confederacy's came in through blockade runners. A large Armstrong gun helped defend Fort Fisher, North Carolina, until the fort fell in January 1865.
When and how
Newcastle upon Tyne, England, and American ports and forts, 1861–65; William Armstrong's Elswick Ordnance Company.
How we know
Company and customs records, and surviving guns, including the 150-pounder Armstrong captured at Fort Fisher, now displayed at West Point.
Debates and open questions
How many Armstrong guns reached each side is uncertain, since many sales went through agents while Britain was officially neutral.
▸Armstrong and Vickers: Britain's arms giants built Admiral Togo's flagship Mikasa, which led at Battle of TsushimaWell documented
The connection
Japan built its modern navy largely in British yards. Vickers' Barrow shipyard built the battleship Mikasa, completed in 1902, Admiral Togo's flagship at Tsushima. All four of his battleships there came from British yards, and Armstrong's Elswick yard built four of his armored cruisers. British-built ships and British-influenced training helped Japan crush Russia's fleet.
When and how
Barrow-in-Furness and Newcastle, England, 1890s–1902; Tsushima Strait, between Korea and Japan, May 27–28, 1905.
How we know
Shipbuilding records, Japanese naval records, and Mikasa herself, preserved as a museum ship at Yokosuka, Japan.
Debates and open questions
How much credit goes to British ships, versus Japanese training and tactics and Russian exhaustion after a seven-month voyage, is debated.
▸Armstrong and Vickers: Britain's arms giants mass-produced, as the Vickers gun, the Machine gun (Maxim gun)Well documented
The connection
Vickers bought Hiram Maxim's company in 1897 and refined his gun into a lighter, more reliable version, the Vickers gun, adopted by the British Army in 1912. Water-cooled and fed by cloth belts, it could fire for hours. Vickers and other makers produced tens of thousands in World War I; it stayed in British service until 1968.
When and how
Vickers works in Kent and elsewhere in England, 1897–1918; Hiram Maxim himself sat on Vickers' board.
How we know
British Army records, production figures and surviving guns; in one 1916 action at High Wood, ten Vickers guns fired nearly a million rounds in 12 hours.
Debates and open questions
Wartime production totals vary between sources, and how much credit belongs to Maxim's original design rather than Vickers' changes is debated.
▸Armstrong and Vickers: Britain's arms giants owned, from 1928, the firm behind the Supermarine Spitfire and its factoriesWell documented
The connection
Vickers bought Supermarine of Southampton in 1928, after its racing seaplanes had won the Schneider Trophy. Vickers' money and engineering backing supported R. J. Mitchell's work leading to the Spitfire. In 1940 Vickers-Armstrongs also took over the troubled Castle Bromwich shadow factory, which went on to build most Spitfires.
When and how
Southampton, 1928–36; Castle Bromwich, near Birmingham, from May 1940; Vickers-Armstrongs, Mitchell, and Lord Beaverbrook as minister of aircraft production.
How we know
Company records and Air Ministry contracts document the 1928 purchase and the 1940 factory takeover.
Debates and open questions
How much the Spitfire owed to the Schneider racers, versus fresh design work after Mitchell's failed Type 224 fighter of 1934, is discussed.