Anderson, Arthur (1792 to 1868)

He was the founder of the Norwood Institute and one of the outstanding figures in the commercial life of the City of London.  He was born in Shetland and started work as a beach boy at the age of ten.  At 16 he was in the Navy, but left the service, walked from Portsmouth to London and became a clerk in the office of Mr B.M. Wilcox, a shipping agent.  In seven years he was a partner.  In 1837 he was instrumental in forming the Peninsular Steam Navigation Co., which developed into the P & O Line.  He thereby controlled the largest and finest fleet of merchant ships in the world.  He represented the Shetland Isles in Parliament from 1847 to 1853 and was a director of the Crystal Palace Company  He gave other institutes at Southampton and Lerwick.  He and his wife resided for more than 40 years at “The Grove” now ‘Norwood Grove”.