•
William George Armstrong / Lord Armstrong (hence Armstrong Road in Benwell) started up munitions production after 1850, which created the demand for the terraced housing in Benwell. • Robert Thomas Atkinson was a successful mining engineer who owned High Cross House, that once stood around the current area of Elswick Road and the corners of Maria St., Caroline St. and St John's Road. Hence the origin of "Atkinson Road". He was the nephew of
John Buddle and took over many of his positions upon the death of Buddle. He too is buried in the family crypt at St James' Church. He died only two years after the death of John Buddle. He had donated further land for the expansion of the church graveyard. •
John Buddle was a local mining engineer, who invented and developed the means of mining coal deeply and thereby began the industrial development of the area in the early 19th century. He is commemorated in "Buddle Road". He is buried in a family crypt in the graveyard of St James' Church; for which he donated 3/4 acres for its building and was principal in having the church built. The crypt is constructed in a seam of coal, the very ore he dedicated his life to. •
William August Fisher was born in Benwell to Russian parents in 1903, and lived at 142 Clara Street. Using the name Rudolf Abel he was arrested in New York in 1957 as a Soviet spy and was the person exchanged for
Gary Powers, the pilot in the U2 bomber incident, in 1962. •
Richard Grainger who built the markets,
The Monument, Grainger Street,
Theatre Royal and Grey Street is buried in St James' Churchyard in Benwell. •
Alan Hull, a musician, songwriter, and member of
Lindisfarne, was born in Benwell. •
Joe Laws is a British professional boxer, known for his outspoken personality and his popularity with his hometown fans. •
Dorothy Liddell, noted archaeologist, was born in Benwell. •
John Aidan Liddell, VC, MC, Captain Princess Louise’s Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders; pilot 7 Squadron Royal Flying Corps; brother to Dorothy; recipient of
Victoria Cross, flying reconnaissance near Ostend, 31 July 1915. • The Reverend William Maughan was the first incumbent vicar of St James' Church, he was the vicar from 1843 - 1877. He is buried in the church graveyard with his wife Mary. Mary was the wife of Robert Thomas Atkinson and upon his death married William. •
Sir Joseph Pease, 1st Baronet lived in Pendower Hall from 1867. The hall was used as an auxiliary hospital during the First World War, became a school in the 1920s then later a teachers centre. •
Alan Robson MBE (born 1 October 1955) is a British radio presenter who presented the late night phone-in show, NightOwls on
Metro Radio, a local commercial station in the North East. •
George Robson was an English-American racing driver who won the
Indianapolis 500 in
1946. Born in Benwell, Robson and his family later emigrated to the United States. •
Joseph Swan established the world's first electric light bulb factory in Benwell in 1881. The factory supplied the lights for Mosley Street in Newcastle which was the first street in the UK to be lit by electric light. • William Surtees had Benwell Hall built. He was the brother of
Bessie Surtees (made famous by her elopement with
John Scott, 1st Earl of Eldon). The Hall was demolished in 1982. •
Percy G. B. Westmacott, engineer and from the 1860s a partner with Lord Armstrong in the Elswick Works, had his home Benwell Hill House constructed in 1861. He left it to his son-in-law in 1899 and it was subsequently occupied by a grocer W. Dodds in 1910. The property has been part of St. Cuthbert's RC School since 1923. == References ==