The Lady is a Naval Engineer
Henrietta Vansittart changes the course of ship propulsion
Henrietta’s tale is one worthy of Hollywood treatment: as inspiring, titillating, and tragic as any portrait of historical male genius that’s regularly plastered across our screens.
Born into a poor family, her intelligence and hard work saw her eventually enjoy a successful career when she took up her father’s mantle of ship propeller engineer. Her work has been hailed as one of the most important nautical inventions in the 19th century. She found happiness outside of her loveless marriage in the form of a passionate 12-year affair with a handsome politician, but died in obscurity in an insane asylum at age 49.
Henrietta Lowe was born in Surrey, England in 1833. She was the fourth of six children. Five years after she was born, her father, a blacksmith and inventor, used all of his wife’s money to purchase a patent for his screw propeller. The ensuing legal battles over copyright infringement left the family destitute.
In 1855, Henrietta married 23-year-old Lieutenant Frederick Vansittart of the 14th Regiment of Light Dragoons. He had recently returned from several years of service in India fighting in the Anglo-Sikh Wars. Henrietta’s tinkering in her father’s workshop likely began at a young age, and her marriage didn’t…
