Andrew Carnegie was born in Dunfermline in 1835. He emigrated with his family to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in 1848. Beginning his career as a telegraph boy he later became the superintendent of the Pennsylvania Railroad. During this time the building of railroads across America were attracting much speculation on the American Stock Market and many gained or lost much money as a result. Carnegie, however, saw a market in the supply of rolling stock (coaches and wagons). Because steel was the main component in their manufacture, he turned to steel making. In time, the Carnegie Steel Company dominated the American steel market. Andrew Carnegie personally owned more than 50% of the company and when he sold it in 1901 he became the richest man in the world.
Believing that a man who died rich died in disgrace, he gave away over $350 million in his lifetime and a further $30 million on his death. He funded the building of around 3000 public libraries in America, Britain and Canada. He also set up the Carnegie Trust for Universities in Scotland, the Carnegie Dunfermline Trust, the Carnegie United Kingdom Trust, the Carnegie Institute of Pittsburgh, The Carnegie Institute of Washington, The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and the Carnegie Corporation of New York.
He married Louise Whitfield in 1887 and the couple had only one daughter, Margaret, born in 1897. The family spent six months of every year in the Highlands of Scotland. They bought the Skibo Estate near Dornoch and built Skibo Castle as their family home. Andrew Carnegie died in 1919 in Lenox, Massachusetts
This page is from an exhibition given at the Historylinks Museum in Dornoch during the 150th Anniversary of Andrew Carnegie's birth. It shows a timeline of important dates in Carnegie's life. There are also two cartoons. One is from a 1905 'Life' magazine, and the other was published in 1935, on the centenary of Carnegie's birth.
Click to enlarge the image, read the text then answer the following questions.
Questions
- How did it come about that a Carnegie Dunfermline Trust was set up?
- Explain how Andrew Carnegie went on to become the world's richest man.
- What did Andrew Carnegie's do with all his vast wealth?
- What do you notice about most of Carnegie's charitable giving?
- What is Andrew Carnegie's particular Highland Connection?