Blanche Coules Thornycroft (21 December 1873 – 30 December 1950) was a British naval architect. She was not formally recognised in her lifetime but her role as an "assistant" is now better credited.

Life

Thornycroft was born in 1873 in

Hammersmith Hammersmith is a district of West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It is the administrative centre of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, and identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. ...

into the

Thornycroft family The Thornycroft family was a notable English family of sculptors, artists and engineers, connected by marriage to the historic Sassoon family. The earliest known mention of the family is stated in George Ormerod's ''History of Cheshire'' as duri ...

, daughter of Blanche Ada (''née'' Coules) (1846–1936) and John Isaac Thornycroft. She had four sisters, Edith Alice (1871–1959), Mary Beatrix (1875–1965), Ada Francis (1877–1965), and Eldred Elizabeth (1879– 1939), and two brothers. Her elder brother was

John Edward Thornycroft Sir John Edward Thornycroft, KBE (1872–1960) was a British mechanical and civil engineer. He worked for the family business of John I. Thornycroft & Company, a shipbuilder to the Royal Navy and others. He played a key role in the early deve ...

. Her younger brother, Isaac Thomas (known as Tom) worked at the family firm until 1934. Her uncle was the sculptor Sir Hamo Thornycroft. She was the granddaughter of

Thomas Thornycroft Thomas Thornycroft (19 May 1815 – 30 August 1885) was an English sculptor and engineer. Biography Thornycroft was born at Great Tidnock, near Gawsworth, Cheshire, the eldest son of John Thornycroft, a farmer. He was educated at Congleton Gr ...

and Mary Thornycroft. Her father,

John Isaac Thornycroft Sir John Isaac Thornycroft (1 February 1843 – 28 June 1928) was an English shipbuilder, the founder of the Thornycroft shipbuilding company and member of the Thornycroft family. Early life He was born in 1843 to Mary Francis and Thomas ...

, was knighted in 1902.

Naval Architecture

Although Blanche Thornycroft did not keep regular hours at her father's business, it is acknowledged that she made an unsung contribution to the business. She was trained in the same way as an apprentice would be trained and she was known as her father's assistant. Analysis however of correspondence with her brother and father reveal that she was regarded as a maths expert and her work was well regarded. The Thornycroft family home in Bembridge had a model ship testing facility in its grounds, built in 1884, but disguised as a decorative water system known as “The Lilypond”. This was used for complex testing of model ships until 1909, when the need for a larger and indoor test tank was identified. A new test tank, one of the first buildings ever built by pouring concrete over steel, was built at Steyne Woods Battery. The Experimental Boat Testing Tank Facility, at the Steyne Wood Battery in

Bembridge Bembridge is a village and civil parish located on the easternmost point of the Isle of Wight. It had a population of 3,848 according to the 2001 census of the United Kingdom, leading to the implausible claim by some residents that Bembridge ...

on the

Isle of Wight The Isle of Wight ( ) is a county in the English Channel, off the coast of Hampshire, from which it is separated by the Solent. It is the largest and second-most populous island of England. Referred to as 'The Island' by residents, the Isle of ...

, ( Grade II Listed Building Number 1426608) has six angled glazed panels below a concrete walkway, linked to a boiler within the battery to warm water, which was installed by Thornycroft as part of her interest in hydroponics. Some of Blanche's monographed notebooks, recording her test notes from 1907 until 1939, along with the ship tank models used in her engineering calculations, are held at the

Classic Boat Museum The Classic Boat Museum is a museum of boats and of the history of yachting and boating. It is located on the Isle of Wight at two separate sites on either side of the River Medina; The Boat Collection in Cowes, and The Gallery in East Cowes. It ...

in East Cowes. The notebooks record her calculations for tests on the models trialled in the lily pond at the family home and later at the Experimental Boat Testing Tank Facility. These models were the basis for the development of Skimmers (racing motor boats), which later evolved into Coastal Motor Boats. Other models tested ideas for Acasta and Acheron Class Destroyers, motor torpedo boats, RAF Rescue Launches, as well as

RNLI The Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) is the largest charity that saves lives at sea around the coasts of the United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland, the Channel Islands, and the Isle of Man, as well as on some inland waterways. It i ...

Lifeboats.

Royal Institution of Naval Architects

She was one of the first three women to be admitted to the Royal Institution of Naval Architects on 9 April 1919 alongside engineers Rachel Parsons and

Eily Keary Eily Keary (later Eily Smith-Keary) (12 October 1892 – 19 October 1975) was a British naval architect, mechanical engineer and aeronautical engineer. She was one of the earliest female associates of the Institution of Naval Architects (now the ...

and was a member of the Women's Engineering Society for twenty years.

Death

Blanche Thornycroft died in

in 1950.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Thornycroft, Blanche 1873 births 1950 deaths People from Hammersmith British marine engineers Blanche British women engineers Women's Engineering Society British naval architects