Lorenzo Mitchell-Henry

Lorenzo Mitchell-Henry (July 1866 - June 1965)

Lorenzo was born in Stratheden House, Knightsbridge, his father’s London residence, in 1866, the youngest son of Mitchell Henry (Mitchell being his Christian name) and his wife Margaret, who was a Vaughan. He went to Eton as had his brothers. He was commissioned into the Royal Monmouthshire Regiment (Militia) Royal Engineers, his commission being signed by Queen Victoria with her own hand as was then the custom. The Militia was rather closer to the Regular Army than the Territorials by which it was replaced, training etc. being for longer periods. Later he went to Heidelberg in Germany to complete his education.

From an early age he had become a remarkable shot (shooting from the left shoulder, as his left eye was the stronger) both with shot-gun and rifle (rather unusual to be good at both) and combined his studies with various sporting expeditions.

He divided his time, on his eventual return to Germany, between Stratheden House (a huge mansion standing on about an acre of land) in London, where he used to drive a four-in-hand and where he lived a life of the greatest fun and luxury in Society and Clubland, and Kylemore Castle, County Galway, where he had his own steam yacht, the 'Ida' (which he designed and had built at Plymouth) with a crew of four, and the run of a vast sporting estate.

He was always ready to try anything new that was a challenge and among many other things, he used to drive a tandem with three horses in line instead of the usual two. He also brought engineers over from Manchester to install a turbine plant and harness water running down the mountain behind the Castle to provide electricity. This was in the 1880's and as far as I know the same system is still in use at Kylemore.

In the 1890's he took to motoring and was one of the first to make the run from London to Brighton and back (100 miles) in one day - then almost like flying the Atlantic solo, with at least six or seven punctures occurring! One of his first cars was a Benz, with the enormous pistons and cylinders mounted horizontally. One day at Hyde Park Corner he broke down and discovered afterwards that several nuts had been sucked off their bolts into the cylinders! He was also one of the first members of the Royal Automobile Club and one of the first to take a car to Ireland where not only animals but also people took to their heels!

He was always inventing things, usually concerning matters of interest to himself, to do with sport and so on, but many of his inventions were copied and commercialised without benefit to him and some are still in use today. One of them is the little pieces of metal on spectacles on either side of the nose and a particular type of trawling net which he developed for fishing on the 'Ida'. He used to cruise, captaining and navigating the yacht himself, all along the West coast of Ireland - then almost virgin fishing ground - and catch tons of the finest quality fish of all kinds. Any not required for the Castle were given free to the numerous tenants of the estate and others.

One invention he did make money with was the 'Henrite' shot-gun cartridge. By that time, he was internationally known as a champion 'pigeon shot' (this was like clay-pigeon shooting today, but live birds were used - made illegal some 45 years ago in England) taking part in competitions all over Europe and various centres in England. The cartridge was one of the first 'smokeless' and the main principle was that the charge was constant and the same for each cartridge. Unlike other cartridges, the powder was made into little cylinders with the consistency of cork which exactly fitted the case, instead of being poured in by weight. A company was formed and the 'Henrite' cartridge became very popular among sportsmen. The cartridge cases were rather striking, being yellow with the word 'HENRITE' in black running lengthways and round the circumference, with the letter 'R' being the centre.

On one occasion he was in the United States, where he met a young mechanic who was looking for five thousand dollars to help continue his operations in exchange for an interest in the project. He did not have that sort of money, and in any case did not think much of the young mechanic's plans. The mechanic's name was Henry Ford!

Some time later, he met the beautiful younger daughter, Marion, of wealthy New York lawyer, Louis Christian Reagner, in due course married her at the famous 'Little Church Around the Corner', 29th Street and Fifth Avenue, New York (where many years later her funeral service was held) which is regarded as the Reagner family church, being across the street (29th) from a big block of property, including the Seville Hotel - 10 storey, 400 bedrooms and baths. Lorenzo and Marion Henry, as they then still were, went to Monte Carlo for their honeymoon and duly settled in London.

While in Canada Lorenzo caught the first of his many Tunny (Tuna) fish on rod and line weighing 520lb. in Nova Scotia, which is counted as the first ever caught on rod. Although another one had been caught by Laurie Mitchell, a guide to Zane Grey, he had not done it completely alone, being helped in the later stages. Subsequently Lorenzo caught the first in Europe off Norway, the first in the British Isles off Scarborough and the world's record (nearly 1,000lb.) also off Scarborough.

Lorenzo Cecil Vaughan Mitchell-Henry died in 1965 one month short of being 99 years old.