- John Isaac Thornycroft
Infobox Person
name = John Isaac Thornycroft
caption = Naval architect and founder of two firms carrying the Thornycroft name
birth_date = February 1843
birth_place =Vatican City ,Rome
dead=dead
death_date = June 1928
death_place =Bembridge ,Isle Of Wight Sir John Isaac Thornycroft (1843–1928) was the founder of the
Thornycroft shipbuilding company . [Herbert B. Mason (Editor). [http://books.google.com/books?id=d3gDAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA630&dq=%22John+Isaac+Thornycroft%22&ei=Ma50SNvACZPgiQHR-KyEDA Encyclopaedia of Ships and Shipping.] London. 1908. pp. 630-631. [http://books.google.com/books?id=d3gDAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA630&dq=%22John+Isaac+Thornycroft%22&lr=&ei=rbB0SPCNNKCmigHT-7jpBw Full view] available from GoogleBooks.] He was the son ofMary Thornycroft , the sculptress. [Sir John Isaac Thornycroft - 1843-1928. Obituary notice. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, Series A. Vol. 121, No. 788 (Dec. 1, 1928), pp. xxxv-xxxvii ]He established a shipbuilding yard on the
River Thames atChiswick in 1864. He built his firststeam launch when he was 19 years old. In 1877, his first vessel for theRoyal Navy was a motortorpedo boat .His yard built a steam powered
lorry which led them into the vehicle manufacturing business, the Thornycroft named business lasting until the late 20th century.Thornycroft worked on means of aiding hull lubrication by air which also led him to
hydrofoil . This led him to develop stepped chine hulls which used for 55 ft Coastal Motor Boats during the war gave them speeds of up to 40 knots. [ [http://www.hovercraft-museum.org/musthorn1.html 1908 Thornycroft Model at The Hovercraft Museum ] at www.hovercraft-museum.org]In 1904, he transferred larger shipbuilding activities to
Southampton . In 1908 he also set up the Hampton Launch Works onPlatts Eyot , an island on the Thames at Hampton, Middlesex.This boatbuilding works concentrated on cabin cruisers and speedboats, but also produced small naval craft - Coastal Motor Boats in the
First World War andMotor Torpedo Boat s, Motor Launches andlanding craft in theSecond World War . Thornycrofts closed their boatbuilding operation on Platt's Eyot when they were taken over by Vospers in the mid-1960s.The Southampton shipyard continues to operate as a VT Shipbuilding (Vosper-Thornycroft) company.
Sir John Thornycroft was the brother of
Hamo Thornycroft , the British sculptor, and uncle of the war poetSiegfried Sassoon . His sonIsaac Thomas Thornycroft skippered the motorboatGyrinus II to two gold medals at1908 Olympic Games .Notes
External links
* [http://www.marketingreinforcements.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/index_plattseyot.html History of Platts Eyot including photos of Thornycroft vessels]
* [http://www.dukesmeadowstrust.org/shipbldg.html History of Thornycroft shipbuilding works at Chiswick including photos]
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