Arthur John Rowledge, (30 July 1876 – 11 December 1957) was an English engineer who designed the

Napier Lion The Napier Lion is a 12-cylinder, petrol-fueled 'broad arrow' W12 configuration aircraft engine built by D. Napier & Son from 1917 until the 1930s. A number of advanced features made it the most powerful engine of its day and kept it in produ ...

aero engine and was a key figure in the development of the

Rolls-Royce Merlin The Rolls-Royce Merlin is a British liquid-cooled V-12 piston aero engine of 27-litres (1,650 cu in) capacity. Rolls-Royce designed the engine and first ran it in 1933 as a private venture. Initially known as the PV-12, it was later ...

Career

Rowledge was born in

Peterborough Peterborough () is a cathedral city in Cambridgeshire, east of England. It is the largest part of the City of Peterborough unitary authority district (which covers a larger area than Peterborough itself). It was part of Northamptonshire until ...

, Northamptonshire in 1876, the son of John and Ann Rowledge. His father was described as a

bricklayer A bricklayer, which is related to but different from a mason, is a craftsman and tradesman who lays bricks to construct brickwork. The terms also refer to personnel who use blocks to construct blockwork walls and other forms of masonry. ...

in 1881. 1881 Census of Peterborough, RG11/1594, Folio 20, Page 34, Arthur J Rowledge, 47 Gladstone Street, Peterborough. At the time of the 1891

census A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses incl ...

, Rowledge was described as an ''Apprentice to Engineers Draughtsman'' 1891 Census of Peterborough, RG12/1228, Folio 78, Page 33, Arthur John Rowledge, 118 Gladstone Street, Peterborough. and in 1901 he was in

Erith Erith () is an area in south-east London, England, east of Charing Cross. Before the creation of Greater London in 1965, it was in the historical county of Kent. Since 1965 it has formed part of the London Borough of Bexley. It lies nort ...

, Kent boarding at Rose Hill Villas, Bexley Road and described as a ''Mechanical Draughtsman''. 1901 Census of Dartford, RG13/699, Folio 108, Page 46, Arthur Rowledge, Rose Heath Villas, Bexley Road, Erith, Kent. Arthur Rowledge joined D.Napier & Son in 1913 as Chief Designer. After designing car engines and the

aero engine, Rowledge took up a similar position at

Rolls-Royce Limited Rolls-Royce was a British luxury car and later an aero-engine manufacturing business established in 1904 in Manchester by the partnership of Charles Rolls and Henry Royce. Building on Royce's good reputation established with his cranes, they ...

in 1921, where he became known as 'Rg' in company shorthand. He is credited with designing the Condor III, the

Kestrel The term kestrel (from french: crécerelle, derivative from , i.e. ratchet) is the common name given to several species of predatory birds from the falcon genus ''Falco''. Kestrels are most easily distinguished by their typical hunting behaviou ...

and developing the

Buzzard Buzzard is the common name of several species of birds of prey. ''Buteo'' species * Archer's buzzard (''Buteo archeri'') * Augur buzzard (''Buteo augur'') * Broad-winged hawk (''Buteo platypterus'') * Common buzzard (''Buteo buteo'') * Eastern ...

into the

Rolls-Royce R The Rolls-Royce R is a British aero engine that was designed and built specifically for air racing purposes by Rolls-Royce Limited. Nineteen R engines were assembled in a limited production run between 1929 and 1931. Developed from the Rolls-R ...

racing engine, which was used with great success at the 1929 and 1931

Schneider Trophy The Coupe d'Aviation Maritime Jacques Schneider, also known as the Schneider Trophy, Schneider Prize or (incorrectly) the Schneider Cup is a trophy that was awarded annually (and later, biennially) to the winner of a race for seaplanes and flying ...

races. Development work on the

Merlin engine Merlin engine may refer to: *Rolls-Royce Merlin, an aircraft engine *Merlin (rocket engine family) Merlin ( cy, Myrddin, kw, Marzhin, br, Merzhin) is a mythical figure prominently featured in the legend of King Arthur and best known as a mag ...

was one of his last contributions to aero engine design, along with responsibility for the

Exe Exe or EXE may refer to: * .exe, a file extension * exe., abbreviation for executive Places * River Exe, in England * Exe Estuary, in England * Exe Island, in Exeter, England Transportation and vehicles * Exe (locomotive), a British locomotive ...

and Pennine projects, before retiring from Rolls-Royce in 1945 at the age of 70.Lumsden 2003, p. 183.''Flight'', 3 January 1958
Flightglobal. Retrieved 21 October 2009

Death

Rowledge died on 11 December 1957, aged 81.

Honours and awards

* 26 March 1920 –

Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

. Arthur John Rowledge, Esq. Chief Designer, Messrs. Napier and Son, Limited. * 1931 – Gold Medal of the

Institution of Automobile Engineers HORIBA MIRA Ltd. (formerly the Motor Industry Research Association) is an automotive engineering and development consultancy company headquartered near Nuneaton in Warwickshire, United Kingdom. It provides product engineering, research, testing, ...

for contributions to

aero engine development, specifically development of the

engine. * 1941 – Fellow of the

Royal Society The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...

References

Notes

Bibliography

*Lumsden, Alec. ''British Piston Engines and their Aircraft''. Marlborough, Wiltshire: Airlife Publishing, 2003. . * Pugh, Peter. ''The Magic of a Name – The Rolls-Royce Story – The First 40 Years''. Cambridge, England. Icon Books Ltd, 2000.

External links

Flightglobal.com – Six years' progress of water-cooled engines by A. J. Rowledge, ''Flight'', 14 March 1930
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rowledge, Arthur 1876 births 1957 deaths English aerospace engineers Fellows of the Royal Society Members of the Order of the British Empire People from Peterborough Rolls-Royce people