Bentham, Samuel (1757–1831), naval architect and inventor, was born in London on 11 January 1757, the youngest of the seven children of Jeremiah Bentham (1712–1792), an attorney, and his wife, Alicia Woodward Whitehorne (d. 1759), the eldest daughter of Thomas Grove, an ...
Article
Eustace Henry William Tennyson-D'Eyncourt
revised by Andrew Lambert
Biles, Sir John Harvard (1854–1933), naval architect, was born at Portsmouth on 6 January 1854, the third son of John Biles (1816–1902), an official at Portsmouth Dockyard, and his third wife (of four), Margaret (1824–1884), second daughter of John Groombridge...
Article
C. R. Gray
revised by Peter Fearon
Bird, Sir James (1883–1946), naval architect and aircraft manufacturer, was born in Hackney, London, on 19 March 1883, the second son of Samuel Bird, merchant, of Calcutta and East Cowes, Isle of Wight. No birth certificate has been found, and there is uncertainty about the identity of his mother, as his father’s first wife, ...
Article
Brierly, Sir Oswald Walters (1817–1894), marine painter and naval engineer, was born at Chester on 19 May 1817, the son of Dr Thomas Brierly (d. in or before 1872), a physician and amateur artist. After schooling in Chester, he became a pupil at ...
Article
Garrett, George William Littler (1852–1902), clergyman and submarine designer, was born on 4 July 1852 at 45 Waterloo Road, Lambeth, London, the third son of John Garrett (d. 1893), an Irish curate, and his wife, Georgina. The Garretts moved to Manchester in the early 1860s, and ...
Article
David K. Brown
Reed, Sir Edward James (1830–1906), naval architect, was born at Sheerness on 20 September 1830, the son of John Reed. He became an apprentice at Sheerness Dockyard where his outstanding ability led to selection in 1849 for the Central School of Mathematics and Naval Architecture...
Article
Scott, Sir Percy Moreton, first baronet (1853–1924), naval officer and engineer, was the son of Montagu Scott, a solicitor, and his wife, Laura Kezia Snelling. He was born in Canonbury, Middlesex, on 10 July 1853. He was educated at Eastman's naval academy, Southsea...
Article
David K. Brown
Seppings, Sir Robert (1767–1840), naval architect, was born at Fakenham, the fourth child of Robert Seppings and his wife, Lydia, the daughter of John Milligen, a linen draper at Harleston. His father was a cattle salesman but was not very successful and the young ...
Article
Symonds, Sir William (1782–1856), naval officer and naval architect, was born on 24 September 1782 at Bury St Edmunds, the second son of Captain Thomas Symonds RN (d. 1793) and his second wife. He went to sea in September 1794, aboard the ...
Article
Keith Harcourt
Thornycroft, Blanche Coules (1873–1950), naval architect, was born at 1 St Peter’s Terrace, Hammersmith, London, on 21 December 1873, the third of seven children (five daughters and two sons) of John Isaac Thornycroft (1843–1928), shipbuilder, who was knighted in 1902, and his wife ...
Article
Thornycroft, Sir John Isaac (1843–1928), naval architect, was born in Rome, Italy, on 1 February 1843, the elder son of Thomas Thornycroft (1815–1885) and his wife, Mary Thornycroft (1809–1895), daughter of John Francis (1780–1861). His father, his mother, and her father were all sculptors, as was his younger brother, ...
Article
White, Sir William Henry (1845–1913), naval architect, born at Devonport on 2 February 1845, was the youngest child of Richard White, a currier, of Devonport, and his wife, Jane, daughter of W. Matthews, of Lostwithiel, Cornwall. He was educated at a private school at ...
Article
Paul Rennie
Wilkinson, Norman (1878–1971), marine and poster artist and creator of dazzle camouflage, was born on 24 November 1878 at 2 Eastbourne Terrace, Cambridge, one of the four children of Thomas Collins Wilkinson (b. 1853), music teacher, who left the family in the boy's childhood, and his wife, ...
