Carnegie

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Authors: Raymond Lamont-Brown

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First published in 2005 by Sutton Publishing

The History Press
The Mill, Brimscombe Port
Stroud, Gloucestershire,
GL5 2QG
www.thehistorypress.co.uk

This paperback edition first published in 2006

Reprinted 2006

This ebook edition first published in 2013

All rights reserved
© Raymond Lamont-Brown, 2005, 2013

The right of Raymond Lamont-Brown to be identified as the Author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyrights, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

This ebook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author’s and publisher’s rights, and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly.

EPUB ISBN
978 0 7524 9510 1

Original typesetting by The History Press

C
ONTENTS

 

Acknowledgements

 

Chronology

 

Preface: The Making of Andrew Carnegie

  1.

The Tree of Radicalism

  2.

The Weaver’s Boy

  3.

Voyage to America

  4.

The Industrious Apprentice

  5.

The White-haired Scotch Devil

  6.

War Clouds and a Silver Lining

  7.

Bridging Gaps

  8.

European Interlude

  9.

New York and the Wolves of Wall Street

10.

Round the World

11.

Romance and the Charioteer

12.

Friendships Sweet and Sour

13.

Two Deaths and a Wedding

14.

A Honeymoon

15.

The Homestead Affair

16.

Fraud and Fraction

17.

A Daughter and a Dwelling

18.

A Rich Rector of St Andrews

19.

Pathway to Peace: Descent to War

20.

The Road to Sleepy Hollow

 

Epilogue: The Conundrum of Andrew Carnegie

 

Appendix I: The Development of the Carnegie Trusts

 

Appendix II: Andrew Carnegie Birthplace Museum

 

Appendix III: The Carnegies’ Farewell to Skibo

 

Family Tree

 

Notes

 

Bibliography

A
CKNOWLEDGEMENTS

T
his volume has been enhanced by a review of the biographical work done on Andrew Carnegie by three writers in particular. The ‘official’ biography,
The Life of Andrew Carnegie
(1932), was written by Burton Jesse Hendrick, and remained the key work until the appearance of the biography
Andrew Carnegie
(1970) by Professor Emeritus Joseph Frazier Wall; Wall also wrote a study of Carnegie’s Scottish home at
Skibo
(1984). In more recent times Peter Krass’s
Carnegie
(2002) has added and expanded biographical research on Carnegie. Funded by Carnegie’s daughter Margaret Carnegie Miller, Burton J. Hendrick wrote a biography of Mrs Carnegie,
Louise Whitfield Carnegie
(1950), which was completed after Hendrick’s death by Daniel Henderson. In 2000 Linda Thorell Hills, great-granddaughter of Andrew Carnegie, edited the journals of Carnegie’s daughter for private circulation. Simon Goodenough produced an important work on Carnegie’s trusts and foundations in
The Greatest Good Fortune: Andrew Carnegie’s Gift for Today
(1985). To each of these writers I offer my gratitude for a sight of their research.

Much assistance has been given in compiling the book by the following, all of whom receive my indebtedness: Mrs Lorna Owers, Administration Manager, Andrew Carnegie Birthplace Museum; the Earl of Elgin & Kincardine, KT; Mr M. Farmer, Principal, Kilgraston School, Perth; The Carnegie Dunfermline & Hero Fund Trustees, and the Carnegie Trust, both at Dunfermline. Mr Angus McLaren, Club Captain of the Carnegie Club, Skibo, Sutherland, has also rendered important assistance on Carnegie’s Scottish ‘heaven on earth’. A special thank-you goes to Mr William Thomson, great-grandson of Andrew Carnegie, for information and advice on the Carnegie family past and present. A particular appreciation is expressed to my wife Dr E. Moira Lamont-Brown, who has acted as companion and helper on my tours of Scotland in search of Carnegie’s ‘Scottishness’.

Illustrations
: Each is identified
in situ
for ownership. Grateful thanks are offered to Laura Whitton of the Picture Library, National Portrait Gallery, London, for tracing and identifying images.

Copyrights
: Every effort has been made to trace the copyright holders of works quoted in the text, although the death of authors and reversion of rights often makes this difficult; however, each quote is sourced in the notes. Thanks for granting permission to quote from their copyright works are due to Peter Krass, Linda Thorell Hills and William Smith of Oxford University Press Inc., New York, on behalf of the Joseph Frazier Wall volumes. In 1986 Northeastern University Press (Houghton Mifflin Co.), Boston, produced a new edition of Andrew Carnegie’s autobiography. Carnegie’s original publisher – Charles Scribner’s Sons – is now a part of Simon & Schuster Trade Division, New York.

C
HRONOLOGY

1835

25 November. Andrew Carnegie born at Dunfermline, Fife.

1840

Carnegie begins informal education alongside his cousin Dod with uncle George Lauder.

1843

Carnegie attends Robert Martin’s Lancaster School, Rolland Street, Dunfermline.

1847

Father William Carnegie’s handloom weaving business fails.

1848

17 May. Carnegies leave for America.
6 July. Arrival at New York and journey to Pittsburgh.
Andrew Carnegie begins work as bobbin boy.

1849

Carnegie starts work as messenger at O’Reilly Telegraphs.

1850

Carnegie progresses to telegraph operator.

1853

Carnegie becomes personal telegraph operator and private secretary to Thomas A. Scott, Superintendent of the Western Division of the Pennsylvania Railroad.

1855

2 October. Death of father, William Carnegie.

1856

Carnegie purchases stock in the Adams Express Co.

1858

Carnegie signs deal with the Woodruff Sleeping Car Co.

1859

21 November. Carnegie becomes Superintendent of the Western Division of the Pennsylvania Railroad Co.

1861

12 April. American Civil War breaks out; Carnegie organises railroads and telegraph communications on a war footing.

1862

Carnegie and his mother visit Scotland.

1865

26 April. American Civil War ends.
May. Carnegie departs on ‘Grand Tour’ of Europe.

1866

Returns to America.

1867

April. Carnegie and others organise Keystone Telegraph Co. Carnegie and his mother move to St Nicholas Hotel, New York.

1870

1 December. Carnegie, Kloman & Phillips manufacture steel.

1871

Carnegie in Europe.

1872

5 November. New company formed to forge steel.

1875

Trip to Dunfermline.

1878

24 October. Carnegie takes trip around the world aboard SS
Belgic
.

1879

Midsummer, back in America.

1880

Carnegie meets Louise Whitfield.

1881

1 April. Carnegie Bros & Co. Ltd formally established.
1 June. Carnegie makes coach trip through Britain.

1884

Coach trip to Europe.
Breaks engagement with Louise Whitfield.
Invests in London
Echo
, and is re-engaged to Louise.

1885

Trip to Britain.

1886

October. Carnegie gravely ill with typhoid fever. Death of only brother Tom Carnegie.
10 November. Death of mother, Margaret Carnegie.

1887

22 April. Marriage to Louise Whitfield. Leases Kilgraston House, near Perth.

1888

Leases Cluny Estate, near Kingussie.

1892

1 July. Foundation of Carnegie Steel Co.

1897

30 March. Birth of Carnegie’s only child, Margaret.
Carnegie buys the mansion of Skibo and 22,000 acres of Sutherland.

1899

23 June. Foundation stone laid of new part of Skibo.

1900

Carnegie Co. established.

1901

Carnegie and family tour Mediterranean sites.

1902

Christmas Eve. Carnegie purchases the entire Pittencrieff estate, Dunfermline.

1903

3 August. Creation of Carnegie Dunfermline Trust.

1911

Carnegie Corporation of New York founded.

1919

22 April. Margaret Carnegie marries Roswell Miller.
9 August. Carnegie contracts pneumonia.
11 August. Death of Andrew Carnegie.

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