George Armitstead
- Birth Date:
- 27.10.1847
- Death date:
- 17.11.1912
- Extra names:
- Georgs Armitsteds, George Armitstead, Джордж Армитстед
- Categories:
- Businessman, Engineer, Mayor, Member of student's corporation, Nobleman, landlord, Official, Public figure
- Nationality:
- english
- Cemetery:
- Riga Great cemetery / Lielie kapi
George Armitstead was an engineer, entrepreneur and the 4th Mayor of Riga.
George Armitstead was born in Riga, Latvia (then: recently annected by Russian Empire) into a British merchant family.
In 1869, Armitstead graduated from the Riga Polytechnical Institute with excellence, and was one of the founders of the Fraternitas Baltica fraternity.
He improved his knowledge at the Zurich and Oxford universities. Later, Armitstead worked as engineer in Russia.
After working in Russia, he came back to Riga, where his family owned many properties and factories, and became a significant social figure of the city life.
In May 7, 1901, the Riga City Council elected George Armitstead to be the Mayor of Riga. He transformed Riga rapidly: he built a lot of buildings in Riga, 13 schools, 3 hospitals, the National Museum, the Zoo, libraries and cafés. Industry and commerce developed significantly.
During the period when he was the mayor, Riga turned from a small city into a major European city.
Emperor Nicholas II of Russia appreciated Armitstead's work and titled him a Lord / Baron of Russian Empire, and offered him to become the Mayor of St. Petersburg, but Armitstead refused.
In 1912 Armitstead fell very sick.
On October 29, 1912 the Riga City Council awarded him with Honorary Citizenship.
George Armitstead died on November 17. Today, Armitstead is remembered as one of the most honorable people of Riga.
27.10.2007 on his 160th birthday, during their first visit to Latvia, Queen Elizabeth II and Philip, Duke of Edinburgh revealed a memorial statue of George Armitstead, his wife and dog.
Source: timenote.info, news.lv, wikipedia.org
| Title | From | To | Images | Languages | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Slokas papīrfabrika | lv |
20.06.1901 | Rīgā tika atklāta pirmā elektriskā tramvaja līnija pa Aleksandra (tagadējo Brīvības) ielu
Tramvajs- pilsētas pasažieru pārvadāšanas līdzeklis, kas izmanto sliežu ceļus. Vēsturiski vecākie ir zirgu vilkmes tramvaji. Lielāko daļu tramvaju darbina elektriskā strāva, kas tiek pievadīta pa gaisa kontakttīklu ar strāvas uztvērēju palīdzību, tomēr tiek ekspluatēti arī tramvaji, kuri strāvu saņem no trešās sliedes un akumulatoru tramvaji. Bez elektriskajiem pazīst arī tramvajus ar vilcējzirgu jeb konkas, trošu jeb virves tramvajus (funikulieri) un dīzeļtramvajus. Agrāk tika ekspluatēti pneimatiskie tramvaji, tvaika tramvaji, ka arī tramvaji ar benzīna dzinēju.
