Walter Scott (1826-1910)
Walter Scott (1826-1910) of Walter Scott Ltd, railway contractor
1888 Chairman of the Leeds Steel Works Co which acquired the Iron and Steel Works at Hunslet.
1900 The Leeds Steel Works, together with collieries in Durham, and other properties belonging to Mr. Scott, were amalgamated as a company in July 1900, under the name of Walter Scott, Limited.
1911 Obituary [1]
Sir WALTER SCOTT, Bart., was born at Abbey Town, West Cumberland, on 17th August 1826. His parents were in humble circumstances, and the education that was given to him was exceedingly meagre.
He started working very early, as a mason, and on completing his apprenticeship he was employed on the construction of railways in the north of England.
In 1846 he acted as foreman on the Gretna Green section of the Caledonian Railway, and two years later he went to Newcastle-on-Tyne and was employed on the building of the Central Station and of the North Eastern line to Berwick. Here he settled down and, commencing business on his own account as a contractor, speedily became one of the foremast men in the district.
He erected or embellished many of the most important buildings in the neighbourhood, notably, the restoration of Newcastle Cathedral, under Sir Gilbert Scott, the extension of the Elswick Works, additions to Chllingham Castle, and the rebuilding of Haggerstone Castle.
In 1867 he began his railway work, this being the branch of the North Eastern Railway to the quayside at Newcastle, and since that time he had rarely been without work for the extension of the North Eastern Railway, its branches and docks.
In 1882 the firm became Messrs. Walter Scott and Co., by the admission of his son, Mr. John Scott, and Mr. J. T. Middleton, his engineer and agent, and large undertakings were carried out by them in all parts of the kingdom. These included the construction of extensive reservoirs for the Stockton and Middlesbrough Water Board, railways for the Great Eastern Railway Co., including the "Essex" lines to Southend-on-Sea, Maldon, and Burnham-on-Crouch.
The firm were the pioneers in the construction of electric railways in London, having built the first section of the City and South London Railway. They also completed an important section of the Central London Railway, extending from the Marble Arch to the General Post Office.
Sir Walter Scott's publishing works at Felling, Co. Durham, are world-famous, and as a publisher of the "Canterbury Poets," the "Camelot Classics," translations of Ibsen's and Tolstoy's works, his name is a household word. At the works at Felling everything in the production of a book was undertaken, except the manufacture of the raw material.
He was also Chairman of the Leeds Steel Works, Leeds, Chairman of Messrs. Smith, Patterson and Co., engineers and ironfounders, Blaydon-on-Tyne, and he was proprietor of several collieries and director of many large industrial concerns.
For some years he was a Member of the Newcastle City Council. In recognition of his great works, a Baronetcy was conferred upon him by the King in 1907.
Latterly he had been in indifferent health, and went to the South of France in January 1910 in the hope that he might benefit by the change. His health, however, became worse, and his death took place at Mentone on 8th April 1910, in his eighty-fourth year.
He became an Associate of this Institution in 1887.