The great biologist and teacher, 'Darwin's Bulldog', visited Tyneside as a member of the Royal commission on Fisheries in 1863 and attended a meeting of the British Association in Newcastle that year. He became a close friend of Sir William Armstrong, a strong supporter of science education. It was in 1874 that Huxley first took his wife, Nettie and the children to Cragside, and this became an almost annual event; the children particularly enjoyed the riding and boating. In 1876, Huxley and his wife sailed for America, after leaving their 'seven darlings' on the station at Rothbury for the childless Armstrongs to look after.
While visiting Newcastle, where Huxley used to inspect the huge Armstrong works at Elswick, Mady and Jess would don mobcaps and go dancing in the city with Captain Noble's daughters. Noble, later Sir Alfred, lived at Jesmond Dene House and used to invite Huxley's eldest son Len to stay with his boys.