Lawrence Hargrave

Lawrence Hargrave married Margaret Preston, daughter of a Sydney shipping clerk, David Johnston on 7 September 1878. The couple had six children together, one of whom died in childhood.

During World War I, in May 1915, he lost his only son Geoffrey at the Battle of Gallipoli.

After undergoing a surgery for appendicitis, he suffered from peritonitis and died on July 6, 1915. He was buried in Waverley Cemetery.

Lawrence Hargrave was born on January 29, 1850, in Greenwich, England. He was born to John Fletcher Hargrave, later Attorney-General of NSW and Ann, née Hargrave.

In 1856, his father left his wife and three younger children to meet his brother Richard in New South Wales. He took along his eldest son Ralph and a brother called Edward.

Later, his mother shifted to Kent with the children. Hargrave received his early education at Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School, Kirkby Lonsdale, Westmorland.

After a few years, his father sent for him. The family then immigrated to Sydney, Australia on 5 November, 1865 on the ‘La Hogue’. With his father’s consent, he soon undertook a trip on the ‘Ellesmere’ to the Gulf of Carpentaria and circumnavigated Australia.

Meanwhile, he failed his matriculation examination and took an engineering apprenticeship with the Australasian Steam Navigation Company, Sydney, in 1867. He worked there for five years, learning skills which he later found to be invaluable in developing his models.

In 1872, as an engineer he set out on a voyage to New Guinea on the ‘Maria’, but the ship struck Bramble reef and was destroyed. In 1875, he again sailed as an engineer on William John Macleay's expedition to the Gulf of Papua.

From October 1875 to January 1876, Lawrence Hargrave explored the vicinity of Port Moresby under Octavius Stone. Four months later, he went on another voyage, on the ‘SS Ellengowan’ under Luigi D'Albertis.

In 1877, he travelled around the pearling industry for Parbury Lamb and Co. When he returned to Sydney, he joined the Royal Society of New South Wales.

In 1878, he joined Sydney Observatory as an assistant astronomical observer. He continued in this job for the next five years, and retired in 1883 with a fair amount of practical knowledge.

Since childhood, he was interested in all kinds of experiments, especially those with aircraft. After inheriting his late father’s wealth in 1885, he resigned from paid employment and focussed on full-time research about difficulties connected with human flight. He studied the flight of birds for some time and conducted his flying machine experiments in Stanwell Park.

At Sydney Observatory, Hargrave worked with H. C. Russell. During this period, he observed the transit of Mercury, studied the Krakatoa explosion, supported Russell to calculate double stars, and developed machines to assist their calculations.

Hargrave had many inventions to his credit. The three most important ones are: firstly, the study of curved aerofoils, secondly, the box kite (1893), which significantly advanced the lift to drag ratio of early gliders and thirdly, the rotary engine, which powered the aircrafts of early twentieth century.