George Handyside was born into a poor working family in 1821 at Newton on the Moor near

Felton, Northumberland Felton is a village in Northumberland, North East England, south of Alnwick and north of Morpeth. The nearest city, Newcastle upon Tyne, is south of the village, and the Scottish border is north of it. At the 2011 Census, it had a populati ...

. At age 26, he moved to Berwick with 17 shillings and within a few years, he owned a shoe factory employing over 100 people.Thefreelibrary.com
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Career

During the 1850s, Handyside opened his first store and within 10 years, he had 50 stores from Newcastle to Aberdeen. During his lifetime, Handyside became a business

magnate The magnate term, from the late Latin ''magnas'', a great man, itself from Latin ''magnus'', "great", means a man from the higher nobility, a man who belongs to the high office-holders, or a man in a high social position, by birth, wealth or ot ...

within the north east with ventures including running farms, operating omnibuses and property developing. Handyside built many homes in the west end of Newcastle and in 1888 he moved into one of the houses he had built in Bentinck Terrace where he opened his surgery. Handyside manufactured a ‘medicinal cure’ which he marketed as a cure for nerves, digestion,

rheumatism Rheumatism or rheumatic disorders are conditions causing chronic, often intermittent pain affecting the joints or connective tissue. Rheumatism does not designate any specific disorder, but covers at least 200 different conditions, including art ...

, toothache, and a blood purifier. His most popular product was an elixir which Handyside claimed to cure

alcoholism Alcoholism is, broadly, any drinking of alcohol (drug), alcohol that results in significant Mental health, mental or physical health problems. Because there is disagreement on the definition of the word ''alcoholism'', it is not a recognize ...

and quickly became a renowned product sold nationally. Handyside published his own book titled ''Every Man Should Be His Own Doctor'' which sold over a million copies. Around 1900, Handyside began work on a 90-shop development in Newcastle on Percy Street. The development was named the Handyside Arcade and was completed in 1906 and it stood until 1987 when it was demolished to make way for Eldon Garden shopping centre.

Death

Handyside died in 1904 before the arcade was completed; he never married and had no children. At the time of his death, Handyside was worth around one million pounds; he left bequests of £92,000 to local charities including the Northern Counties Orphan Institute and Newcastle Eye Infirmary. A monument to George Handyside can be found within St Johns Cemetery on Elswick road minutes walk from the houses he built, lived, and worked in. Parts of the Handyside Arcade were acquired by

Beamish Museum Beamish Museum is the first regional open-air museum, in England, located at Beamish, near the town of Stanley, in County Durham, England. Beamish pioneered the concept of a living museum. By displaying duplicates or replaceable items, it wa ...

References

Bibliography

* ''George Handyside, Newcastle Entrepreneur and Quack Vendor'' by Alan Blakeman, published by David Robertson;

External links

Twsitelines.info
1821 births 1904 deaths People from Northumberland 19th-century English businesspeople {{England-business-bio-stub