William Arrol by William S. Murphy
Note: This is a sub-section of William Arrol
From ‘Captains of Industry’ by William S. Murphy. Published 1901.
SIR WILLIAM ARROL, DALMARNOCK IRON WORKS.
GLASGOW EAST-END is not the chosen abode of the wealthy, but wealth abounds there. It is a region where wealth is created. by industry, a district of mills and factories and workshops and foundries; the spaces between one huge labour hive and another filled in with the -dwellings of the workers. Dalmarnock Road and London Road form two sides, and Springfield Road the base of an irregular triangle, the apex of which touches Bridgeton Cross. Within that space industry vibrates on the air with its myriad forces in continuous succession, the aspect of ugliness unrelieved save here where a splendid school shows timid suggestions of architectural art, or there a church lifts a slender spire as though struggling vainly to overtop the surrounding chimney stalks. In the very centre of that vast triangle stands Dalmarnock Iron Works, the birthplace of the Forth Bridge and many another viaduct, the chief scene of Sir William Arrol's labours. The works are very extensive, the yards, sheds, and workshops spreading over many acres, and not a yard of space unoccupied. At one end are the engineering and fitters' shops, and at the other the counting-house, drawing offices, and administrative departments; while in the space between are sheds and furnaces and cranes, occupying the energies of busy workers. The number of men employed by Sir William Arrol & Co. varies greatly with the magnitude and character of the firm's undertakings, and large squads are employed outside the works; but the payroll is always a long one, comprising, on the average, the names of over 3000 men. Hard work and good pay is the rule in these works. Neither idlers nor weaklings find refuge here, for every man's work counts, and the building of iron bridge or steel girder cannot be done by the lifting of the little finger. Wonder at those mighty structures that span broad rivers with ease and grace gives place to intelligent understanding when you see the bridge-makers at work. It is all done by well-directed labour, built bit by bit by strong men under the direction of a leader who has Planned and designed every detail. That leader is Sir Arrol. He has able lieutenants, and humbly undertakes contracts to execute the designs of other engineers; but he is master in his own house, and as he accepts responsibility for the work done the credit is his due.
In the little village of Houston Sir William Arrol was born in the year 1839. Not far away, in the same shire, is another little village where another Sir William was born. Elderslie was Sir William Wallace's birthplace. Historical parallels are misleading often; but the hero of modern industry is the engineer, and it is quite possible that the heroic champion of Scottish freedom might in these happier days have found congenial occupation for his gigantic energy in the conquest of iron and steel. Wallace was no fighter for fighting's sake, but a heroic worker whose sad lot it was to engage in battle instead of peaceable industry. We read his character altogether wrong, however, if he was not a man who would rather have done his work in a very quiet and inoffensive way, had tyrannical Edwards and• cowardly Ballots let him and his country have freedom to do it. When William Arrol was quite a child his parents removed to Johnstone, where his grandfather lived, who was the first to use gas in that locality. His father, too, seems to have been gifted, for from a cotton spinner he rose to the post of manager in the mill of Messrs. J. & P. Coats, of Paisley. But in the days of which we write the Arrol family was yet poor, and the boy was early required to leave school and begin to work. At the age of nine he became a piecer in Johnstone cotton mill—an occupation which, it will be remembered, also engaged the tender years of David Livingstone. About two years after the boy was employed in the Paisley thread mills; but he did not like factory work, and at the age of fourteen was apprenticed to the blacksmith trade with one Reid, of Paisley. Smith work suited him, and he never lost his love for it, but continued to apply himself more and more to acquire mastery of the craft. When his apprenticeship ended, Arrol might readily have obtained employment in the thriving thread town, but he wished to gain knowledge of the world and experience in his trade. He therefore travelled over England and Scotland, working in various towns, always improving his gifts and position, till at the age of twenty-four he became foreman in the boiler works of Messrs. Laidlaw & Sons, Glasgow—quick rise, surely, for a youth without position or influence. But the young blacksmith was not even content with that; he wished to be his, own master, and after working five years at the boilermaking he started business in Bridgeton. Boilermaking naturally took first place among his undertakings, but no kind of smith work came amiss to him. He would mend a housewife's grate with the same alacrity and skill as he would rivet the plates of an engine boiler. Such versatility could scarcely fail to obtain employment.
The little workshop soon became too small for his numerous operations, and in 187 the Dalmarnock Iron Works were founded-not Very extensive at first, but large enough to afford room for expansion. The chief cause of Arrol's need for larger premises was that industry which he has made so specially his own, viz., bridge-building. He undertook first one, then another; the success of one causing other orders to come in, till bridges occupied his whole energy, and he was compelled to decline orders for almost everything else. Among the first important works of that kind was the iron bridge he built for the Caledonian Railway Company over the Clyde at Bothwell. This was the opportunity of testing by practical experiment his theories of bridge-building. Instead of constructing the fabric bit by bit in its place, the new bridge- builder conceived the idea of building the structure on land and rolling it out span by span over the water. Again, when he obtained the contract to build the huge bridge that carries over the Clyde the tremendous traffic of the Caledonian Central Station, Mr. Arrol devised a novel driller whereby that heavy labour is much facilitated and lightened. He also invented a hydraulic riveter, which not only welds longer and stronger bolts than could be done by hand, but also secures them better. These are only two of the numerous inventions Sir William Arrol has devised for use in his special industry. He is no magician, no creator of wonders, but a simple workman who applies his whole mind to every detail of the work he has in hand. Certainly he has made great improvements, but his chief merit and secret of success is that he has made a great many little improvements, taking into consideration even the smallest detail of every process, and trying to lessen and lighten the labour needed for it, or economising material, or increasing strength where weakness was a defect—in everything manifesting that capacity for taking infinite pains which is the best substitute for genius. Sir William Arrol's position has been achieved by hard work and fitness. The great world is very like the smallest workshop in it; the diligent worker rises grade by grade, his past record the measure of the confidence reposed in him—apprentice, journeyman, foreman, manager, master. There arc also; apprentice journeymen, apprentice foremen, apprentice managers, apprentice masters; and the vast majority never get above that grade.
It is a common delusion that if there had been no Forth Bridge Sir William Arrol would have remained unknown to fame. One thing is certain—known or unknown, his work would have compelled the admiration of men. The idea of bridging the estuaries of the Tay and the Forth had long occupied the minds of engineers. Ever since the North British Railway was constructed, the project had been discussed and plans formed. The difficulty was the most formidable objection to the Bill for the East Coast route, when it came before Parliament in 1848. At last, after a lapse of nearly half a century, the enterprise took shape in the first Tay Bridge, planned by Sir Thomas Bouch, and in a vast suspension bridge designed by the same engineer to span the Forth. The plans for the latter were issued, and William Arrol had undertaken the contract and spent several thousands on preparatory works, when the Tay Bridge disaster sent a thrill of horror through the world and shattered the designer's reputation. Fortunately for his fame, Arrol had not built the fatal bridge, and when it was proposed to rebuild it, his tender was accepted. His preparations for the Forth Bridge, at the moment useless, were not without value, and of course ultimately served his purpose. Having in view his great task, the engineer experimented on every contract he could obtain. Notably was this the case at Montrose where he built the South Esk Bridge, using floating pontoons with success. These pontoons enabled him to build each successive pier and span as easily as if they touched the shore. Span by span the long viaduct stretched once more across the Tay till the north and south shores of the estuary were linked again. Such a triumph restored public confidence and inspired the Forth Bridge promoters with new hope. Designs and plans were drawn out and, after much discussion, approved.
William Arrol was entrusted with the construction of the vast viaduct. We need not trouble our readers with an elaborate description of the structure. Photographs and descriptions have made everyone familiar with its appearance and character. Beauty, it is said, has been sacrificed to solidity and utility, and near at hand the cage-like construction of the girders impress the eye with too much. petty detail and a confusion of interlacing lines; but seen at a distance, the mighty sweep of the wide spans, each i7oo ft. in length, strikes the beholder with a sense of magnificent power no other structure on earth can rival. The bridge was opened on 4th March, 189o, by the Prince of Wales, now King Edward VII., and at the banquet held in celebration of the event H.R.H. announced that Her Majesty the late Queen had resolved to confer the honour of knighthood on the builder of the bridge.
The Tay and Forth Bridges do not complete the tale of Sir William Arrol's labours. London Tower Bridge stands a monument of his good workmanship, and is accounted one of the sights of the Metropolis. He is still building, moreover, and it is hard to tell what feat hitherto deemed impossible he may attempt and accomplish. We have hinted resemblance between two Renfrewshire knights separated in time by six centuries, and at the end of our story we do not take it back. The battle of man's freedom has to be fought in different ways at different times and places, but always the same courage, veracity, vigour, and greatness of soul are required. Born into times of storm and strife, when the strong arm and doughty spirit were needed most in battle, Sir William Arrol had carried himself with a knightly grace and manful vigour equal to any paladin. He is of the stuff that stern adversity fashions into heroes; not a fine scholar, nor great in intellect, but a big, strong. good- natured Scot, possessing to an uncommon degree the gifts and virtues of the common man.
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