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Charles GascoigneScottish architect, mechanic, gunsmith, inventor
Country:
 Great Britain |
Content:
- Scottish Innovator and Russian Industrialist
- Invitation to Russia
- Arrival and Industrialization
- Olonets Factories
- Kronstadt and St. Petersburg Factories
- Contracts and Official Titles
- Expansion and Innovations
- Honors and Legacy
Scottish Innovator and Russian Industrialist
Charles Gascoigne was a Scottish architect, mechanic, weaponsmith, and inventor who spent the latter part of his life in the Russian Empire. He gained fame as an engineering innovator, successful entrepreneur, and organizer of production.
Invitation to Russia
Admiral Samuel Greig, who was engaged in improving the Russian fleet in Kronstadt, submitted a report to Empress Catherine II on the need for producing artillery pieces for warships in Russia. He proposed inviting Gascoigne to the country for this purpose. The Empress tasked Greig himself with the invitation, which he extended to Gascoigne in 1785 through correspondence.
Arrival and Industrialization
In 1786, at the age of 47, Gascoigne arrived in Russia accompanied by Armstrong, another Scotsman already in Russian service. He brought with him parts of essential machinery for cannon production, such as cylinder, blowing, and drilling machines, as well as many building materials, including fireclay, fireproof stone, and a significant amount of coal. Many other former employees of the Carron Works joined him at his invitation, including the Bird brothers, to assist in managing the factories and a large number of mechanics, chemists, and craftsmen in various specialties.
Olonets Factories
Gascoigne arrived at the Olonets factories in September 1786 and began rebuilding the ironworks in the city of Petrozavodsk, which had been constructed in 1773 and 1774 by Yartzov. In the same year, he managed to put one of the blast furnaces into operation using a new cylindrical blowing machine and cast the first cast iron cannon from the air furnaces in the presence of the then-Olonets governor, Tutolmin.
Kronstadt and St. Petersburg Factories
Gascoigne restored the nearby Konchezersky factory, but unsuccessfully. It burned down in 1793 and was closed after another reconstruction in 1801. To avoid the expense of transporting cast iron scrap from Kronstadt to Petrozavodsk for re-melting, it was decided to set up a small iron foundry in Kronstadt itself under Gascoigne's guidance. This was delegated to Karl Bird, and the St. Petersburg factory was founded nearby shortly after.
Contracts and Official Titles
Gascoigne's first contract in Russia expired in 1789. For his successes in 1788-1789, when 386 cannons were handed over to the artillery, he was awarded the Order of St. Vladimir, 4th Class, in 1789, which entitled him to hereditary nobility. Gascoigne signed a new contract (although he was officially appointed to the state service in the rank of collegiate counselor only in June 1790) under which the Alexandrovsky Cannon, Konchezersky Iron Smelting, and Kronstadt factories came under his management. Gascoigne's salary was set at £2,500 sterling "at the rate of Russian money in England."
Expansion and Innovations
From 1786 to 1803, Gascoigne was the head of the Olonets mining factories in Karelia, residing in Petrozavodsk. In 1790, he was commissioned to explore for ore and coal deposits in the Slavyanoserbia region (the area of present-day Luhansk). Gascoigne carried out the assignment and assured the government that "the discovered iron ore and coal mines according to the examination promise the richest quantity of these minerals of the highest quality." The construction of the Luhansk factory under Gascoigne's leadership was decided in 1795, and ten thousand poods of various cast iron and iron machine parts were prepared for it at the Alexandrovsky factory in 1796. The products were sent to the site by land during the winter.
Gascoigne was also entrusted with the Alexandrovskaya manufactory, where he installed the first steam engine in Russia, imported from England. From 1803 onwards, he served as head of the Admiralty Izhora factories.
Honors and Legacy
Gascoigne remained the director of all the factories he built or restored until the end of his life. He received the rank of state councilor in 1795 and was awarded the Order of St. Vladimir, 3rd Class. In 1797, he received the Order of St. Anne, 2nd Class. In 1798, he was promoted to the rank of actual state councilor and awarded the Order of St. Anne, 1st Class.
