James Lowe (1798 - 1866)

Born 13 May 1798 in Rotherhithe, Southwark, London, England

Husband of Mary (Barnes) Lowe — married 30 May 1825 in St Mary, Rotherhithe, Southwark, England

Died 12 Oct 1866 at age 68 in London, England, United Kingdom

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Biography

Born 1798^[1] at Rotherhithe, London, the son of James Lowe and his wife, Elizabeth. Baptized 13 May 1798, St Mary, Rotherhithe, Southwark, Surrey, England.^[2] His father was possibly a shipwright.^[3]

He was apprenticed on 2 November 1813 to Edward Shorter, a London master mechanic and a freeman of the City, who had in 1800 taken out a patent for propelling vessels, which he had named 'the perpetual sculling machine'.

In 1816 Lowe joined a whaling ship, but after three voyages returned to his employer. Later on he commenced business as a mechanic and a manufacturer of smoke jacks for roasting spits.

He married, Mary Barnes,30 May 1825, St Mary, Rotherhithe, Southwark, England.^[4]. They had at least two sons and six daughters.

Lowe's spare time was subsequently taken up with experimenting on screw propellers for ships. On 24 March 1838 he took out a patent, no. 7599, for 'improvements in propelling vessels' by means of a screw of one or more curved blades, set or fixed on a revolving shaft below the waterline of the vessel. His propeller was first practically used in the Wizard in 1838, and then in the navy's steamships the Rattler and the Phoenix.

On 16 December 1844 he brought an action in the court of queen's bench against Penn & Co., engineers at Greenwich, for infringement of the patent. The evidence was contradictory, but it was shown that Lowe, although not the original inventor of propellers, was the inventor of a combination of them never before applied to the propulsion of vessels. This combination consisted of three parts: a segment of a screw; a segment of a screw applied below the waterline, so as to be totally immersed; a segment of a screw applied on an axis below the water. The jury gave a verdict in his favour.

However, it was a popular field for inventors: at least forty other people proposed screw propellers before 1836.

The main advantage of a submerged propeller was to reduce its risk of damage from naval bombardment; side and centre paddle wheel propulsion was developed earlier, but found to be too exposed.

On 19 August 1852 Lowe took out another patent, no. 14263, for his propeller. He apparently spent his wife's fortune of £3000 in his experiments, reduced himself to poverty, and never succeeded in obtaining any compensation for the use of his invention.

On 12 October 1866 Lowe was run over by a wagon in Blackfriars Road, London, and killed. He was buried at St Mary's, Ewell, 22 Oct 1866, aged 69 years.^[5].^[6][7]

Sources

1. ↑ Tombstone
2. ↑ Church of England Parish Registers, 1538-1812. London, England: London Metropolitan Archives; Reference Number: P71/MRY/013
   Parish Register, St Mary, Rotherhithe, Southwark, Surrey, England
   Baptisms May 1798; 13, James S of James & Elizabeth Lowe - 23
3. ↑ Surrey, England, Jury-Qualified Freeholders Lists 1696–1824. QS3/10A/1–9. Digitized images. Surrey History Centre, Woking, Surrey, England. Reference Number: QS3/10A/8
   1814 – 1819, James Lowe, Shipwright, Bricklayers Row, Rotherhithe, Surrey, England
4. ↑ Church of England Parish Registers. London Metropolitan Archives, London. London Metropolitan Archives; London, England; London Church of England Parish Registers; Reference Number: P71/MRY/035/001
   Parish Register, St Mary, Rotherhithe, Southwark, England
   No: 790; James Lowe of this Parish, Bachelor and Mary Barnes of this Parish, Spinster were married in this Church by banns this Thirtieth Day of May in the Year One Thousand eight hundred and twenty-five by me, Wm West, Off Minister.
   This Marriage was solemnized between us: James Lowe Mary Barnes in the presence of us: George Foxwell, Richard Cooper
5. ↑ Anglican Parish Registers. Woking, Surrey, England: Surrey History Centre. Reference: 2374/1/11
   Parish register, Ewell, St Mary, Surrey, England
   “Burials in the Parish of Ewell in the County of Surrey in the Year 1866
   No: 180; James Lowe; Abode: Southwark; Buried: Oct 22nd; Age: 69; Celebrant: Bankhard M Beha, Off Minsiter.”
6. ↑ Tombstone, St. Mary's, Ewell, Surrey,
   "Sacred to the memory of James Lowe, Esq., who was born May 13th 1798 and met his death from an accident on the 12th October 1866. He was the Inventor of the Segment of the Screw Propeller in use since 1838 and his life though unobtrusive was not without great benefit to his country. He suffered many troubles but bore them lightly as his hope was not of this world but in our Saviour. Erected by his sorrowing Widow and his affectionate daughter, Henrietta Vansittart."
7. ↑ https://probatesearch.service.gov.uk/#wills
   Lowe, James, Effects under £50. 31 October. Letters of administration of the Personal estate and effects of James Lowe late of 15 Layton-grove Southwark in the County of Surrey deceased who died 12 October 1866 at Horsemonger-lane Southwark aforesaid were granted at the Principal Registry to Mary Lowe of 28 Esmond-road Victoria Park in the County of Middlesex Widow the Relict of the said Deceased she having been first sworn.

• *https://collection.sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk/people/cp136266/james-lowe
• https://www-oxforddnb-com.rp.nla.gov.au/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-17082#odnb-
• https://doi-org.rp.nla.gov.au/10.1093/ref:odnb/17082
• J. P. Baxter, The introduction of the ironclad warship (1933)
• The Times (17 Dec 1844)
• The Times (24 Dec 1869)
• Mechanics Magazine, 37 (1842), 462 GM, 4th ser., 2 (1866), 705
• H. Vansittart, History of the Lowe–Vansittart propeller (1882)
• R. Armstrong, Powered ships (1975), 106 CGPLA Eng. & Wales (1866)
• B. Bouchard, ‘James Lowe (1798–1866) and his daughter, Mrs Henrietta Vansittart (1833–1883)’, https://eehe.org.uk/?p=25620
• http://journal.sciencemuseum.org.uk/pdf/article/16663/henrietta-vansittart