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William Congreve's rational rockets

Published:05 January 2009https://doi.org/10.1098/rsnr.2008.0039

    Abstract

    This article examines the early development of military rockets devised by the English inventor and Royal Society Fellow William Congreve in the first decade of the nineteenth century. Congreve's efforts to imitate Indian war rockets used against the British in Mysore are set within a number of local and global contexts that saw increasing attempts by Europeans to imitate eastern pyrotechnics while applying economic and scientific principles to reform pyrotechnic production. Congreve viewed his rockets as ‘rational’, operated via an experimental system that dispensed with the need for any skilled labour, save Congreve's own inventive capacities. But when rockets were put to the test, naval officers, artisans and other inventors all disputed this claim, and this article shows how their various skills proved indispensable in making the rocket work. Congreve responded by erasing both distant Indian and local British contributions to the rocket system. The career of Congreve rockets thus demonstrates how local processes of disciplinary reform around 1800, entailing rational management based on scientific and economic principles, were intimately connected with orientalizing tendencies in Britain, which sought to portray distant cultures of the East as backward and static, justifying imperial domination.

    References

    Notes

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    • 18On Congreve senior, see Smith, op. cit. (note 1), pp. 1–113;Mauskopf, Seymour H.Chemistry in the Arsenal: state regulation and scientific methodology of gunpowder in eighteenth-century England and France., in , Steele, Brett D.& Dorland, TameraThe heirs of Archimedes: science and the art of war through the Age of Enlightenment2005MIT PressCambridge, MA293-330.
    • 19Stephens, H. M.Desaguliers, Thomas (1721–1780). , Matthew, H. C. G.& Harrison, Brian HowardOxford Dictionary of National Biography2004Oxford University Press15, 893-894.
    • 20Duncan, Major FrancisHistory of the Royal Regiment of Artillery18793rd edn1,London269-270.; ‘Gunnery’, in Smith, Captain GeorgeAn universal military dictionary, or a copious explanation of the technical terms &c. Used in the equipment, machinery, movements, and military1779,London.
    • 21Smith, op. cit. (note 1), pp. 41 and 79–81; the archives of the James Clavell Library, Royal Artillery Museum, Woolwich, contain numerous papers by Congreve senior on carriage reforms. See, for example, ‘A Particular Account of the Alterations made in the Light 6 Pounder Carriages in the Year 1776’, Royal Artillery Historical Trust collection, RA/93; and ‘Exercises and Manoeuvres for the Light Six Pounders or Two Heavy Three Pounders of General Desaguliers Construction, by William Congreve, Capt. of Artillery’, MD/213/9, reproduced in Major J. P. Kaestlin, ‘Firemaster: The Life and Trials of Sir William Congreve (1772–1828)’, Royal Artillery Library, Woolwich, MD 213/14, no. 6, supplement of illustrations, MD 939/15.
    • 22Congreve senior listed his reforms in ‘A State of Facts relative to the Grounds on which the late and present Master General have had so much Reason to doubt the goodness and durability of Gun Powder which was delivered into the Royal Magazine for the King's Service’, dated 17 January 1788, James Clavell Library, Royal Artillery Museum, Woolwich, MD213/8; and A Statement of Facts, relative to the Savings which have arisen from manufacturing Gunpowder at the Royal Powder Mills; and of the improvements which have been made in its strength & durability since the year 1783 (London, 1811); for discussion, see Mauskopf, op. cit. (note 18).
    • 23For Desaguliers's certificate, Royal Society, London, GB 117: EC/1779/26; Desaguliers had been proposed for election in December 1779.
    • 24Bentham, MariaMemoir on the Various Methods Adopted and Proposed for the Preservation of Timber. Mechanic's Magazine1850, 1415(21 September), 224-228at p. 224.; Mauskopf, op. cit. (note 18), p. 303; Congreve's exchanges with the Royal Society are in Royal Society, London, Miscellaneous Manuscripts, MM/4/30 to MM/4/36; some precedent lay in Stephen Hales's assistance in securing fireworks in the Green Park of 1749. Hales, StephenA Proposal for Checking in Some Degree the Progress of Fires. Phil. Trans. R. Soc.174845, 277-279.;Mortimer, CromwellAn Addition to Dr. Hales's Paper, p. 279.Phil. Trans. R. Soc.174845, 302.
    • 25Staunton, GeorgeAn Authentic Account of an Embassy from the King of Great Britain to the Emperor of China1797London,1, 495-496.
    • 26Watson, RichardChemical Essays1781London, 1, 41-42.
    • 27Congreve, ‘A State of Facts’, op. cit. (note 22), f. 7v.
    • 28William Congreve, 1st Bart., to the Board of Ordnance, 14 July 1801, attached to a letter from Congreve to Joseph Planta, Secretary, Royal Society, 29 June 1801, Royal Society, MM/4/34.
    • 29On sacking, see Smith, op. cit. (note 1), p. 76.
    • 30William Congreve, ‘Dedicated by permission to His Royal Highness Prince William Frederic [sic] of Gloucester—A Second Century of Inventions and A speculative Enquiry into the origin and Progress of the practical & theoretical Knowledge of Man from the Creation to the Present Times’, c. 1800, British Library, Add MSS 38844.
    • 31Ibid., f. 11v.
    • 32Ibid., ff. 309r–313r.
    • 33Ibid., f. 258r.
    • 34Smith, op. cit. (note 1), p. 133.
    • 35Fernandes, PraxyThe Tigers of Mysore: a biography of Haidar Ali and Tipu Sultan1991reprint, Viking BooksNew Delhi.
    • 36Brittlebank, KateSakti and Barakat: the power of Tipu's tiger. An examination of the tiger emblem of Tipu Sultan of Mysore. Mod. Asian Stud.199529, 257-269.
    • 37Habib, IrfanIntroduction: an essay on Haidar Ali and Tipu Sultan., in & Habib, IfranConfronting colonialism: resistance and modernisation under Haidar Ali and Tipu Sultan2002Anthem PressLondonxvii-xlvii.;Barua, PradeepMilitary developments in India, 1750–1850. J. Military Hist.199458, 599-616at pp. 600–604.
    • 38Moor, EdwardA narrative of the operations of Captain Little's detachment, and of the Mahratta army, commanded by Purseram Bhow: during the late confederacy in India, against the Nawab Tippoo Sultan Bahadur1794London169.
    • 39Winter, The first golden age of rocketry (op. cit. (note 1)), pp. 6–7; the range was between 900 and 1500 m.
    • 40Bhattacharya, AsiteshGunpowder and its applications in ancient India. in & Buchanan, Brenda J.Gunpowder, explosives and the state: a technological history2006AshgateAldershot42-50.; Mitra, HaridasThe fire works and fire festivals in ancient India1963Abhedananda Academy of CultureCalcutta, 28-33.
    • 41.Winter, The first golden age of rocketry (op. cit. (note 1)), p. 7.
    • 42Kirmani, Mir Husain Ali Khan& Miles, Colonel W.History of the reign of Tipu Sultan, being a continuation of the Neshani Hyduri1958Susil GuptaCalcutta681864.
    • 43On rockets as measures, see Scott, JonathanA Translation of the Memoirs of Eradut Khan, a Nobleman of Hindostan1786London3536-71.
    • 44Shuhab is Arabic for shooting star. Kirmani, op. cit. (note 42), p. 160.
    • 45See, for example, Moor, op. cit. (note 38), p. 509.
    • 46Craufurd, QuintinSketches Chiefly Relating to the History, Religion, Learning, and Manners of the Hindoos1790London, 10.
    • 47Ibid., pp. 295–296, at p. 296.
    • 48A Catalogue of the Rarities To be seen at Adams's at the Royal Swan, in Kingsland Road, Leading from Shoreditch Church, 3rd edn (London, 1756), at p. 7; The Britannic Magazine; or entertaining repository of heroic achievements (London, 1798–1807), vol. 9, pp. 287–288, describes the repository contents; on rockets brought back from Seringapatam to London, see East India Company, Copies and Extracts of advices to and from India (London, 1800), pp. 262–263.
    • 49On Desaguliers's efforts, seeCongreve, WilliamA Concise Account of the Origins and Progress of the Rocket System1807London, 1-42.; Congreve, WilliamA Treatise on the General Principles, Powers, and Facility of Application of the Congreve Rocket System, as Compared with Artillery1827London, 15.
    • 50Ruggieri, Claude-FortunéPyrotechnie. L'Annotateur Boulonnais, Journal d'annonces judiciaires, du commerce, des arts et de la littérature, 182442(19 August), 14.; see also Ruggieri, Claude-FortunéPyrotechnie militaire, ou traité complet des feux de guerre et des bouches à feu1812Paris, 278-283.
    • 51Congreve, A Concise Account… (op. cit. (note 49)), p. 141.
    • 52Ibid., p. 7.
    • 53See the brief accounts of Congreve's experiments appended to Congreve, A Concise Account (op. cit. (note 49))Congreve, WilliamMemoir on the possibility, the means, and the importance, of the destruction of the Boulogne flotilla, in the present crisis: With the outline of a general system for the attack of all the enemy's naval depots and arsenals1806London, 12.
    • 54Congreve, Memoir on the possibility… (op. cit. (note 53)), pp. 11–12.
    • 55Ibid., dedication.
    • 56Ibid., p. 7.
    • 57Ibid., p. 24.
    • 58Bentham, MariaThe Life of Brigadier-General Sir Samuel Bentham1862London, 98.; Bentham, SamuelServices Rendered in the Civil Department of the Navy in Investigating and Bringing to Official Notice Abuses and Imperfections: and in Effecting Improvement in Relation to the System of Management1813London, 132-133.
    • 59Keith to Barham, 12 October 1805, inMiddleton, Charles& Barham, Lord& Laughton, Sir John KnoxLetters and papers of Charles, Lord Barham, Admiral of the Red Squadron, 1758–18131907–1911Navy Records SocietyLondon, 3, 153-178at p. 157.
    • 60Admiral Edward Vernon, quoted inTunstall, BrianNaval warfare in the age of sail: the evolution of fighting tactics 1680–18151990Conway Maritime PressLondon80.
    • 61On Brighton pavilion, seeDinkel, John& Morley, John. The Royal Pavilion, Brighton1990Brighton Borough CouncilBrighton Congreve, A Treatise on the General Principles… (op. cit. (note 49)), p. 6; Smith, op. cit. (note 1), pp. 146 and 202.
    • 62Quoted in Smith, op. cit. (note 1), p. 137; Winter, The first golden age of rocketry (op. cit. (note 1)), pp. 16–17.
    • 63Congreve, Memoir on the possibility… (op. cit. (note 53)), p. 13; Winter, The first golden age of rocketry (op. cit. (note 1)), p. 17.
    • 64Congreve to Colonel Neville, enclosed in a letter from Congreve to Castlereagh, 12 December 1805, in Stewart, Robert& Castlereagh, Viscount, Vane, Charles William& Londonderry, Marquess ofCorrespondence, Despatches, and other Papers, of Viscount Castlereagh, Second Marquess of Londonderry. Second Series. Military and Miscellaneous1851London5, 146.
    • 65Keith to Barham, 25 November 1805, in Middleton, op. cit. (note 59), vol. 3, p. 175; ‘Operations off Boulogne’, The Times, no. 6587 (25 November), p. 3 (1805); William Congreve to Lord Grenville, 12 October 1806, in Lloyd, Christopher& Hardin Jnr, CraigCongreve's Rockets, 1805–1806. Naval Miscell.19524, 424-468at p. 457; William Congreve to Board of Ordnance, 27 November 1810, WO 44/642, Public Record Office, Kew, London.
    • 66For Congreve's assessment, see the appendix to Congreve, Memoir on the possibility… (op. cit. (note 53)), pp. 28–30.
    • 67Congreve, Memoir on the possibility… (op. cit. (note 53)), p. 8.
    • 68Sir Sidney Smith to Castlereagh, n.d. (ca. 3 October 1805) in Stewart, op. cit. (note 64), vol. 5, pp. 113–114, at p. 114.
    • 69Keith to Barham, 12 October 1805, in Middleton, op. cit. (note 59), vol. 3, p. 157.
    • 70Sir Sidney Smith to Castlereagh, 22 November 1805, in Stewart, op. cit. (note 64), vol. 5, pp. 130–131, at p. 131.
    • 71Keith to Barham, 25 November 1805, in Middleton, op. cit. (note 59), vol. 3, p. 175.
    • 72J. K. Laughton, ‘Owen, Sir Edward Campbell Rich (1771–1849)’ (rev. Andrew Lambert), Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, vol. 42, p. 195.
    • 73Congreve, WilliamAn Elementary Treatise on the Mounting of Naval Ordnance1811Londonxiv.
    • 74Owen to Keith, 20 July 1806, in Lloyd and Hardin, op. cit. (note 65), pp. 441–442.
    • 75Ibid.
    • 76Markham to Keith, 25 September 1806, in Lloyd and Hardin, op. cit. (note 65), pp. 446–447, at p. 446.
    • 77Keith to Grenville, 12 October 1806, in Lloyd and Hardin, op. cit. (note 65), p. 454.
    • 78See Owen's general orders, 19 August 1806, in Lloyd and Hardin, op. cit. (note 65), pp. 444–446, at p. 444.
    • 79For details of the new rockets and demonstration, see Congreve, A Concise Account… (op. cit. (note 49)), p. 7.
    • 80Howick to Keith, 19 August 1806, in Lloyd and Hardin, op. cit. (note 65), pp. 443–444.
    • 81Owen to Keith, 20 August 1806, in Lloyd and Hardin, op. cit. (note 65), p. 443, n. 1.
    • 82Owen to Grenville, 30 November 1806, in Lloyd and Hardin, op. cit. (note 65), pp. 460–461.
    • 83Keith to Owen, 22 July 1806, in Lloyd and Hardin, op. cit. (note 65), pp. 442–443.
    • 84Ibid., p. 443.
    • 85Congreve to Grenville, 12 October 1806, in Lloyd and Hardin, op. cit. (note 65), pp. 455–457.
    • 86Le Moniteur Universel, 15 October 1806, quoted in Winter, The first golden age of rocketry (op. cit. (note 1)), p. 20.
    • 87Congreve to Grenville, 12 October 1806, in Lloyd and Hardin, op. cit. (note 65), p. 457. My italics.
    • 88Congreve, Memoir on the possibility… (op. cit. (note 53)).
    • 89The role of honour in enlightened warfare is analysed in Starkey, ArmstrongWar in the Age of Enlightenment, 1700–17892003PraegerWestport, CT69-104.
    • 90Nelson to Castlereagh, 3 October 1805, Stewart, op. cit. (note 64), vol. 5, p. 111; see also Barham to Castlereagh, 4 October 1805, ibid., vol. 5, p. 115.
    • 91Congreve, Memoir on the possibility… (op. cit. (note 53)), p. 20.
    • 92Congreve, A Concise Account… (op. cit. (note 49)), p. 5; on Copenhagen, see Winter, The first golden age of rocketry (op. cit. (note 1)), pp. 20–23; Winter, Frank H.The Copenhagen rocket bombardment of 1807: some new views of early rocket history. J. Br. Interplanet. Soc.199447, 171-179.
    • 93On later uses, seeRobinson, RalphThe use of rockets by the British in the war of 1812. Maryland Hist. Mag.194540, 1-6.; Tylden, Major G.The use of rockets in the British Army in the nineteenth century. J. Soc. Army Hist. Res.194826, 168-170.
    • 94Congreve, A Concise Account… (op. cit. (note 49)), p. 141.
    • 95Ibid., p. 142.
    • 96For a request for remuneration, see William Congreve to Grenville, 25 March 1807, British Library Add 59282, ff. 170–171; Grenville to William Congreve, British Library Add 59282, f. 172; on the prince's rewards, see Smith, op. cit. (note 1), p. 178.
    • 97The Times, no. 7827 (14 November), 3 (1809); Gentleman's Mag.78 (February), 129 (1808).
    • 98The Times, no. 7827 (14 November), 3 (1809).
    • 99Hume, JosephRemarks on Military Rockets. A Journal of Natural Philosophy, Chemistry, and the Arts181129, 63-67January , at p. 64.
    • 100Ibid., p. 65.
    • 101Congreve went on to become Comptroller of the Royal Laboratory in 1814, and inherited his father's baronetcy in the same year. He was appointed senior equerry to the Prince of Wales in 1817.
    • 102See Werrett, ‘From the Grand Whim…’, op. cit. (note 6).
    • 103Congreve and other Royal Society Fellows formed a commission to investigate gas explosions in London in 1813, after which Congreve founded his own gas company, the Imperial Continental Gas Association, in 1824. Smith, op. cit. (note 1), pp. 195–207.
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