Sir Charles Algernon Parsons (13 June 1854 – 11 February 1931) was an

Anglo-Irish Anglo-Irish people () denotes an ethnic, social and religious grouping who are mostly the descendants and successors of the English Protestant Ascendancy in Ireland. They mostly belong to the Anglican Church of Ireland, which was the State rel ...

mechanical engineer and inventor who designed the modern

steam turbine A steam turbine or steam turbine engine is a machine or heat engine that extracts thermal energy from pressurized steam and uses it to do mechanical work utilising a rotating output shaft. Its modern manifestation was invented by Sir Charles Par ...

in 1884. His invention revolutionised

marine propulsion Marine propulsion is the mechanism or system used to generate thrust to move a watercraft through water. While paddles and sails are still used on some smaller boats, most modern ships are propelled by mechanical systems consisting of an electri ...

, and he was also the founder of

C. A. Parsons and Company C. A. Parsons and Company was a British engineering firm which was once one of the largest employers on Tyneside. The company became Reyrolle Parsons in 1968, merged with Clarke Chapman to form Northern Engineering Industries in 1977, and bec ...

. He worked as an engineer on

dynamo "Dynamo Electric Machine" (end view, partly section, ) A dynamo is an electrical generator that creates direct current using a commutator. Dynamos employed electromagnets for self-starting by using residual magnetic field left in the iron cores ...

and

turbine A turbine ( or ) (from the Greek , ''tyrbē'', or Latin ''turbo'', meaning vortex) is a rotary mechanical device that extracts energy from a fluid flow and converts it into useful work. The work produced can be used for generating electrical ...

design, and

power generation Electricity generation is the process of generating electric power from sources of primary energy. For utilities in the electric power industry, it is the stage prior to its delivery ( transmission, distribution, etc.) to end users or its stora ...

, with great influence in the naval and

electrical engineering Electrical engineering is an engineering discipline concerned with the study, design, and application of equipment, devices, and systems that use electricity, electronics, and electromagnetism. It emerged as an identifiable occupation in the l ...

fields. He also helped develop optical equipment for

searchlight A searchlight (or spotlight) is an apparatus that combines an extremely luminosity, bright source (traditionally a carbon arc lamp) with a mirrored parabolic reflector to project a powerful beam of light of approximately parallel rays in a part ...

s and

telescope A telescope is a device used to observe distant objects by their emission, Absorption (electromagnetic radiation), absorption, or Reflection (physics), reflection of electromagnetic radiation. Originally, it was an optical instrument using len ...

s. Parsons received the

Faraday Medal The Faraday Medal is a top international medal awarded by the UK Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) (previously called the Institution of Electrical Engineers (IEE)). As one of the world's most prestigious awards in engineering, it ...

and the

Copley Medal The Copley Medal is the most prestigious award of the Royal Society of the United Kingdom, conferred "for sustained, outstanding achievements in any field of science". The award alternates between the physical sciences or mathematics and the bio ...

for his work.

Career and commercial activity

Parsons was born into an aristocratic Anglo-Irish family on 13 June 1854 in London as the youngest son of the astronomer

William Parsons, 3rd Earl of Rosse William Parsons, 3rd Earl of Rosse (17 June 1800 – 31 October 1867), was an English engineer and astronomer. He built several giant telescopes. His 72-inch telescope, built in 1845 and colloquially known as the "Leviathan of Parsonstown", was ...

. The family seat is

Birr Castle Birr Castle ( Irish: ) is a large castle in the town of Birr in County Offaly, Ireland. It is the home of the 7th Earl of Rosse and his family, and as the castle is generally not open to the public, though the grounds and gardens of the deme ...

County Offaly County Offaly (; ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is part of the Eastern and Midland Region and the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster. It is named after the Ancient Ireland, ancient Kingdom of Uí ...

, Ireland, and the town of Birr was called Parsonstown, after the family, from 1620 to 1901. With his three brothers, Parsons was educated at home in Ireland by private tutors, including John Purser and Sir Robert Ball, all of whom were well versed in the sciences and also acted as practical assistants to the Earl in his astronomical work. Parsons then read mathematics at

Trinity College, Dublin Trinity College Dublin (), officially titled The College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin, and legally incorporated as Trinity College, the University of Dublin (TCD), is the sole constituent college of the Univ ...

, and at St. John's College, Cambridge, graduating from the latter in 1877 with a first-class honours degree. He joined the

Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England, United Kingdom *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England, United Kingdom *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area ...

-based engineering firm of W. G. Armstrong as an apprentice, an unusual step for the son of an earl. Later he moved to Kitsons in Leeds, where he worked on rocket-powered

torpedo A modern torpedo is an underwater ranged weapon launched above or below the water surface, self-propelled towards a target, with an explosive warhead designed to detonate either on contact with or in proximity to the target. Historically, such ...

es.

Steam turbine engine

In 1884 Parsons moved to Clarke, Chapman and Co., ship-engine manufacturers operating near Newcastle, where he became head of their electrical-equipment development. He used Regnault's large collection of steam properties ("data of the physicists") to develop a turbine engine turning at 18,000

RPM Revolutions per minute (abbreviated rpm, RPM, rev/min, r/min, or r⋅min−1) is a unit of rotational speed (or rotational frequency) for rotating machines. One revolution per minute is equivalent to hertz. Standards ISO 80000-3:2019 def ...

in 1884 and immediately utilised the new engine to drive an electrical generator, which he also designed. Parsons's

made cheap and plentiful electricity possible and revolutionised marine transport and naval warfare. Another type of steam turbine at the time, invented by

Gustaf de Laval Karl Gustaf Patrik de Laval (; 9 May 1845 – 2 February 1913) was a Swedish engineer and inventor who made important contributions to the design of steam turbines and centrifugal separation machinery for dairy. Life Gustaf de Laval was born at ...

(1845–1913) in the 1880s, was an impulse design that subjected the mechanism to huge centrifugal forces and so had limited output due to the weakness of the materials available. Parsons explained in his 1911

Rede Lecture The Sir Robert Rede's Lecturer is an annual appointment to give a public lecture, the Sir Robert Rede's Lecture (usually Rede Lecture) at the University of Cambridge. It is named for Sir Robert Rede, who was Chief Justice of the Common Pleas in th ...

that his appreciation of the scaling issue led to his 1884 breakthrough on the compound steam turbine:

It seemed to me that moderate surface velocities and speeds of rotation were essential if the turbine motor was to receive general acceptance as a prime mover. I therefore decided to split up the fall in pressure of the steam into small fractional expansions over a large number of turbines in series, so that the velocity of the steam nowhere should be great...I was also anxious to avoid the well-known cutting action on metal of steam at high velocity.

Founding Parsons and Company

In 1889 he founded C. A. Parsons and Company in Newcastle to produce

turbo generator A turbo generator is an electric generator connected to the shaft of a turbine (water, steam, or gas) for the generation of electric power. Large steam-powered turbo generators provide the majority of the world's electricity and are also u ...

s to his design. In the same year he set up the Newcastle and District Electric Lighting Company (DisCo). In 1890, DisCo opened

Forth Banks Power Station Forth Banks Power Station was a coal-fired power station in North East England. It was situated in the city centre of Newcastle upon Tyne on Forth Banks, a street to the rear of Newcastle Central station. Put up in a disused factory building i ...

, the first power station in the world to generate electricity using turbo generators. In 1894 he regained certain patent rights from

Clarke Chapman Clarke Chapman is a British engineering firm based in Gateshead, which was formerly listed on the London Stock Exchange. History The company was founded in 1864 in Gateshead by William Clarke (1831–1890). In 1865 Clarke took in a partne ...

. Although his first turbine was only 1.6% efficient and generated a mere 7.5 kilowatts, rapid incremental improvements in a few years led to his first megawatt turbine, built in 1899 for a generating plant at

Elberfeld Elberfeld is a municipal subdivision of the Germany, German city of Wuppertal; it was an independent town until 1929. History The first official mentioning of the geographic area on the banks of today's Wupper River as "''elverfelde''" was ...

in the German Empire. Turbinia At Speed

Marine steam turbine applications

Also interested in marine applications, Parsons founded the

Parsons Marine Steam Turbine Company Parsons Marine Steam Turbine Company was a United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, British engineering company based on the River Tyne at Wallsend, North East England. History Charles Algernon Parsons founded the company in 1897 with £500 ...

in Newcastle. Famously, in June 1897, his turbine-powered

yacht A yacht () is a sail- or marine propulsion, motor-propelled watercraft made for pleasure, cruising, or racing. There is no standard definition, though the term generally applies to vessels with a cabin intended for overnight use. To be termed a ...

, ''

Turbinia ''Turbinia'' is the first steam turbine-powered steamship. Built as an experimental vessel in 1894, and easily the fastest ship in the world at that time, ''Turbinia'' was demonstrated dramatically at the Fleet review (Commonwealth realms), Sp ...

'', turned up unannounced at the Navy Review for the

Diamond Jubilee A diamond jubilee celebrates the 60th anniversary of a significant event related to a person (e.g. accession to the throne or wedding, among others) or the 60th anniversary of an institution's founding. The term is also used for 75th annivers ...

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in January 1901. Her reign of 63 year ...

Spithead Spithead is an eastern area of the Solent and a roadstead for vessels off Gilkicker Point in Hampshire, England. It is protected from all winds except those from the southeast, with the Isle of Wight lying to the south-west. Spithead and the ch ...

, on 26 June 1897, in front of the

Prince of Wales Prince of Wales (, ; ) is a title traditionally given to the male heir apparent to the History of the English monarchy, English, and later, the British throne. The title originated with the Welsh rulers of Kingdom of Gwynedd, Gwynedd who, from ...

, foreign dignitaries, and

Lords of the Admiralty The Board of Admiralty (1628–1964) was established in 1628 when Charles I put the office of Lord High Admiral into commission. As that position was not always occupied, the purpose was to enable management of the day-to-day operational requi ...

. Moving at speed at

Fleet Review off

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. Most of Portsmouth is located on Portsea Island, off the south coast of England in the Solent, making Portsmouth the only city in En ...

, to demonstrate the great potential of the new technology. The ''Turbinia'' moved at ; the fastest

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...

ships using other technologies reached . Part of the speed improvement came from the slender hull of the ''Turbinia''. Within two years the

destroyer In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast, maneuverable, long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy, or carrier battle group and defend them against a wide range of general threats. They were conceived i ...

s HMS ''Viper'' and were launched with Parsons's turbines, soon followed by the first turbine-powered

passenger ship A passenger ship is a merchant ship whose primary function is to carry passengers on the sea. The category does not include cargo vessels which have accommodations for limited numbers of passengers, such as the ubiquitous twelve-passenger freig ...

Clyde steamer The Clyde steamer is the collective term for several passenger services that existed on the River Clyde in Scotland, running from Glasgow downstream to Rothesay and other towns, a journey known as going ''doon the watter''. The era of the Cl ...

TS ''King Edward'' in 1901; the first turbine transatlantic liners RMS ''Victorian'' and ''Virginian'' in 1905; and the first turbine-powered battleship, in 1906, all of them driven by Parsons' turbine engines. ( ''Turbinia'' is housed in a purpose-built gallery at the

Discovery Museum The Discovery Museum is a science museum and local history museum situated in Blandford Square in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. It displays many exhibits of local history, including the ship, ''Turbinia''. It is managed by North East Museums. ...

, Newcastle.)

Honours and awards

Parsons was elected a

Fellow of the Royal Society Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the Fellows of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural science, natural knowledge, incl ...

in June 1898, received their

Rumford Medal The Rumford Medal is an award bestowed by the Royal Society for "outstanding contributions in the field of physics". The award is named in honour of British scientist Sir Benjamin Thompson, Count Rumford, who is noted for his works on thermody ...

in 1902 and their

in 1928, and delivered their

Bakerian Lecture The Bakerian Medal is one of the premier medals of the Royal Society that recognizes exceptional and outstanding science. It comes with a medal award and a prize lecture. The medalist is required to give a lecture on any topic related to physical ...

in 1918. He served as the president of the

British Association The British Science Association (BSA) is a charity and learned society founded in 1831 to aid in the promotion and development of science. Until 2009 it was known as the British Association for the Advancement of Science (BA). The current Chief ...

from 1916 to 1919. He was an Invited Speaker of the

ICM ICM may refer to: Organizations * Irish Church Missions, an Anglican mission * Institut du Cerveau, the Paris Brain Institute, a research center * Interdisciplinary Centre for Mathematical and Computational Modelling, University of Warsaw * Interna ...

in 1924 at Toronto.

Knight A knight is a person granted an honorary title of a knighthood by a head of state (including the pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church, or the country, especially in a military capacity. The concept of a knighthood ...

ed in 1911, he became a member of the

Order of Merit The Order of Merit () is an order of merit for the Commonwealth realms, recognising distinguished service in the armed forces, science, art, literature, or the promotion of culture. Established in 1902 by Edward VII, admission into the order r ...

in 1927. In 1929 the

Iron and Steel Institute The Iron and Steel Institute was a British association originally organized by the iron trade of the north of England. Its object was the discussion of practical and scientific questions connected with the manufacture of iron and steel. History The ...

awarded him the

Bessemer Gold Medal The Bessemer Gold Medal is awarded annually by the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining (IOM3) "for outstanding services to the steel industry, to the inventor or designer of any significant innovation in the process employed in the manufact ...

Surviving companies

The Parsons turbine company survives in the Heaton area of Newcastle as part of

Siemens Siemens AG ( ) is a German multinational technology conglomerate. It is focused on industrial automation, building automation, rail transport and health technology. Siemens is the largest engineering company in Europe, and holds the positi ...

, a

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

conglomerate. In 1925 Charles Parsons acquired the ''Grubb Telescope Company'' and renamed it ''

Grubb Parsons Grubb Parsons (legally 'Sir Howard Grubb, Parsons and Co. Ltd.') was a historic manufacturer of telescopes, active in the 19th and 20th centuries. They built numerous large research telescopes, including several that were (at the time of construc ...

''. That company survived in the Newcastle area until 1985. Parsons also designed the Auxetophone, an early compressed-air gramophone.

Personal life and death

In 1883, Parsons married Katharine Bethell, the daughter of William F. Bethell. They had two children: the engineer and campaigner

Rachel Mary Parsons Rachel Mary Parsons (25 January 1885 2 July 1956) was an English engineer and advocate for women's employment rights, who was the founding President of the Women's Engineering Society in 1919. Early life Parsons was born in 1885, to Sir Charle ...

(b. 1885), and Algernon George "Tommy" Parsons (b. 1886), who was killed in action during World War I in 1918, aged 31. They had a London home at 1

Upper Brook Street Brook Street is an axial street in the exclusive central London district of Mayfair. Most of it is leasehold, paying ground rent to and seeking lease renewals from the reversioner, that since before 1800, has been the Grosvenor Estate. Named ...

Mayfair Mayfair is an area of Westminster, London, England, in the City of Westminster. It is in Central London and part of the West End. It is between Oxford Street, Regent Street, Piccadilly and Park Lane and one of the most expensive districts ...

, from 1918 to 1931. Sir Charles Algernon Parsons died on 11 February 1931, on board the steamship ''

Duchess of Richmond The Duchess of Richmond is the wife of the Duke of Richmond, an extant title in the Peerage of England that has been created four times, originally in 1525. Countesses Countesses of Richmond (1218–1235) Other titles: Duchess of Brittany Co ...

'' while on a cruise with his wife. The cause of death was given as

neuritis Neuritis (), from the Greek ), is inflammation of a nerve or the general inflammation of the peripheral nervous system. Inflammation, and frequently concomitant demyelination, cause impaired transmission of neural signals and leads to aberrant ne ...

. A memorial service was held at

Westminster Abbey Westminster Abbey, formally titled the Collegiate Church of Saint Peter at Westminster, is an Anglican church in the City of Westminster, London, England. Since 1066, it has been the location of the coronations of 40 English and British m ...

on 3 March 1931. Parsons was buried in the parish church of St Bartholomew's in

Kirkwhelpington Kirkwhelpington is a village and civil parish in the English county of Northumberland about northeast of Hexham. It is on the River Wansbeck alongside the A696 trunk road between Otterburn and Ponteland. History Kirkwhelpington has medie ...

Northumberland Northumberland ( ) is a ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North East England, on the Anglo-Scottish border, border with Scotland. It is bordered by the North Sea to the east, Tyne and Wear and County Durham to the south, Cumb ...

. His widow, Katharine, died at her home in Ray Demesne, Kirkwhelpington, Northumberland in 1933. Rachel Parsons died in 1956; stableman Denis James Pratt was convicted of her manslaughter. In 1919, Katharine and her daughter Rachel co-founded the

Women's Engineering Society The Women's Engineering Society is a United Kingdom professional learned society and networking body for women engineers, scientists and technologists. It was the first professional body set up for women working in all areas of engineering, pred ...

with

Eleanor Shelley-Rolls Eleanor Georgiana Shelley-Rolls (9 October 1872 – 15 September 1961) was one of the original signatories of the Women's Engineering Society founding documents. Early life Rolls was born in Mayfair, London in 1872. She was the daughter of ...

Margaret, Lady Moir Margaret, Lady Moir, OBE (née Margaret Bruce Pennycook) (10 January 18645 October 1942) was a Scottish lathe operator, engineer, a workers' relief organiser, an employment campaigner, and a founder member of the Women's Engineering Society (WE ...

Laura Annie Willson Laura Annie Willson MBE (née Buckley) (15 August 1877 – 17 April 1942) was an English engineer and suffragette, who was twice imprisoned for her political activities. She was one of the founding members of the Women's Engineering Society an ...

, Margaret Rowbotham and

Janetta Mary Ornsby Women's Engineering Society formed by these seven signatures in 1919, 268x268px Janetta Mary Isabel Ornsby (''née'' Palmer; 22 July 1871 – 17 August 1954) was a Scottish suffragist and one of the founders of the Women's Engineering Society. ...

, which is still in existence today. Sir Charles was initially a supportive member of the organisation until his wife's resignation.

Commemoration

Parsons's ancestral home at

in Ireland houses a museum detailing the contribution the Parsons family have made to the fields of science and engineering, with part of the museum given over to the engineering work of Charles Parsons. Parsons is depicted on the reverse of an Irish silver 15-

Euro The euro (currency symbol, symbol: euro sign, €; ISO 4217, currency code: EUR) is the official currency of 20 of the Member state of the European Union, member states of the European Union. This group of states is officially known as the ...

silver

Proof coin Proof coinage refers to special early samples of a coin issue, historically made for checking the dies (as in demonstrating that something is true) and for archival purposes. In modern times, proofs are often struck in greater numbers, especi ...

that was struck in 2017. The Irish Academy of Engineering awards The Parsons Medal, named after Charles Parsons, every year to an engineer who has made an exceptional contribution to the practice of engineering. Previous winners include Prof. Tony Fagan (2016), Dr. Edmond Harty (2017), Prof. Sir John McCanny (2018) and Michael McLaughlin (2019).

Selected works

E-book: "The Steam Turbine and Other Inventions of Sir Charles Parsons"
* The Steam Turbine (Rede Lecture, 1911) * Charles Parsons's grand-nephew, Michael Parsons, in his 1968 Trinity Monday Discourse

References

External links

*
Sir Charles Parsons Symposium, excerpts from Transactions of the Newcomen Society
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Parsons, Charles Algernon 1854 births 1931 deaths 19th-century Anglo-Irish people 20th-century Anglo-Irish people Alumni of St John's College, Cambridge Alumni of Trinity College Dublin Bessemer Gold Medal English engineers English knights English inventors British steam engine engineers British inventors Corresponding Members of the USSR Academy of Sciences Fellows of the Royal Society Irish engineers Irish knights Irish inventors Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath Marine engine manufacturers Members of the Order of Merit Foreign associates of the National Academy of Sciences People associated with electricity People from County Offaly Engineers from Tyne and Wear Presidents of the British Science Association Presidents of the Institute of Physics Recipients of the Copley Medal Steam turbines Turbines Younger sons of earls Women's Engineering Society Recipients of Franklin Medal People on Irish postage stamps