Thomas Sopwith
Aviator and businessman | |
---|---|
Years active | 1910–1980 |
Organizations | |
Spouses | Beatrix Hore-Ruthven
(m. 1914; died 1930)Phyllis Brodie
(m. 1932; died 1978) |
Children | Thomas E.B. Sopwith |
Medal record | ||
---|---|---|
Representing United Kingdom | ||
Men's ice hockey | ||
European Championships | ||
1910 | Great Britain
|
Sir Thomas Octave Murdoch Sopwith,
Early life
Sopwith was born in Kensington, London, on 18 January 1888. He was the eighth child and only son of Thomas Sopwith (a civil engineer and managing director of the Spanish Lead Mines Company in Linares, Jaén, Spain) and his wife, Lydia Gertrude Messiter.[1] He was a grandson of mining engineer Thomas Sopwith.[2] He was educated at Cottesmore School in Hove and at Seafield Park engineering college in Hill Head.[3]
On 30 July 1898, when he was ten years old and on a family holiday at the
Sopwith was interested in motor cycles, and he took part in the 100-mile Tricar trial in 1904, where he was one of four medal winners.[4] He also tried ballooning, his first ascent being in C.S. Rolls' balloon in June 1906.[5] Together with Phil Paddon, he bought his own balloon from Short Brothers.[5] For a while, he was in business with Phil Paddon selling automobiles as Paddon & Sopwith on Albemarle Street in Piccadilly, London.[5]
In his youth, he was an expert
Career in aviation
This section needs additional citations for verification. (September 2021) |
Sopwith became interested in flying after seeing
On 18 December 1910, Sopwith won the £4000 Baron de Forest Prize for the longest flight from England to the Continent in a British-built aeroplane, flying 169 miles (272 km) in 3 hours 40 minutes. He used the winnings to set up the Sopwith School of Flying at Brooklands.
In June 1912, Sopwith, along with Fred Sigrist and others, set up the Sopwith Aviation Company, initially at Brooklands.[8] On 24 October 1912 using a Wright Model B completely rebuilt by Sopwith and fitted with an ABC 40 hp engine,[9] Harry Hawker took the British Michelin Endurance prize with a flight of 8h 23m.
Sopwith Aviation got its first military aircraft order in November 1912, and in December moved to larger premises in Canbury Park Road, Kingston upon Thames. The site of the factory is now a private gated housing estate. A small section of the original building still exists at the junction of Elm Crescent and Canbury Park Road; white painted bay windows can be seen extending from the building to allow as much light as possible to enter the large room in which Sopwith made blueprints for his aircraft designs.
The company produced more than 18,000 World War I aircraft for the allied forces, including 5747 of the Sopwith Camel single-seat fighter. Sopwith was awarded the CBE in 1918.
Bankrupted after the war by punitive anti-profiteering taxes and a failed venture into motorcycle manufacturing, he re-entered the aviation business in 1920 with a new firm named after his chief engineer and test pilot, Harry Hawker. Sopwith became chairman of the new firm, Hawker Aircraft.
He became a Knight Bachelor in 1953. After the nationalisation in 1977 of the aviation interests of what was by then Hawker Siddeley, he continued to work as a consultant to the company until 1980.
In 1979, Sopwith was inducted into the
Yachting
Sopwith challenged the
In 1927 Sopwith commissioned yacht builders
In 1937 Sopwith received the yacht
Personal life
Sopwith married Beatrice Hore-Ruthven (1871–1930) in 1914, but they had no children. Beatrice was the daughter of Walter Hore-Ruthven, who was created Baron Ruthven of Gowrie in 1919. After Beatrice's death, he married Phyllis Brodie Gordon (1892–1978) in 1932. Their son, Thomas Edward Brodie Sopwith, had success in car racing.
Sopwith's house in Mayfair at No. 46 Green Street, where he lived from 1934 until 1940, has a blue plaque.[13] In 1940, he moved to Warfield Hall in Berkshire, which he had acquired the previous year.[14]
Sopwith's 100th birthday was marked by a flypast of military aircraft over his home, Compton Manor in King's Somborne, Hampshire.[citation needed] He died in Hampshire on 27 January 1989, nine days after his 101st birthday. His grave and that of his second wife (Phyllis Brodie) are in the churchyard of All Saints Church, Little Somborne, near Winchester.
Legacy and tributes
His authorised biography is Pure Luck (2005) by Alan Bramson, with a foreword by the
A bronze bust of Sopwith was unveiled by his son at Kingston Library, London, on 26 September 2014. The sculptor was Ambrose Barber, a former executive of Hawker. Earlier in the same year, a plaque was unveiled at Canbury Gardens in Kingston upon Thames by Sopwith's son to commemorate the Sopwith aviation company.[15]
Sopwith Way in Kingston upon Thames was named after Thomas Sopwith. Sopwith Road, one of the roads built on the site of the former Heston Aerodrome, is also named after him. Sopwith Road in Warfield (Bracknell, Berkshire), located close to his former home Warfield Hall and the location of the newly built Woodhurst school (part of Warfield CE Primary School), is also named after him.
References
- ^ . Retrieved 6 November 2008.
- . Retrieved 9 August 2018.
- ^ The Encyclopædia Britannica, vol. 20, 1929
- ^ Ixion (PDF), Reminiscences of Motor Cycling, EP, archived from the original (PDF) on 8 May 2014.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-86193-234-4.
- ^ "Thomas Sopwith – player profile and career stats". European Hockey. Retrieved 29 November 2007.
- ^ "Great Britain Roster 1910". UK: Ice Hockey Journalists. Archived from the original on 13 May 2008. Retrieved 29 November 2007.
- ^ "The ABC Motor Cycle", The Motor Cycle, 19 December 1918, p. 541.
- ^ "The Sopwith-Wright biplane", Flight magazine, pp. 1075–79, 23 November 1912.
- ISBN 978-1-57864-397-4.
- ^ Alastor MY (No. 93), Irish Wrecks On-Line.
- ^ Wreck Tour: 80, The Alastor, Diver net, 13 December 2021[permanent dead link].
- ^ "Thomas Sopwith Blue Plaque". Open plaques. Retrieved 13 May 2013.
- ^ "Heritage Trail" (PDF). UK: Warfield Parish Council. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2 April 2013. Retrieved 3 August 2013.
- ^ "Work of art commemorates Kingston aviation figurehead". The Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames. 26 September 2014. Retrieved 28 November 2019.
External links
- Thomas Sopwith from the Flickr Commons
- Sopwith, Monash University
- Portrait Sculpture of Thomas Sopwith
- Library of Congress Picture of Tom Sopwith
- Library of Congress Picture of Tom Sopwith on Airplane