Sir Charles Algernon Parsons (13 June 1854 – 11 February 1931) was an Anglo-Irish mechanical engineer and inventor who created the modern steam turbine in 1884. His invention changed the way ships moved through water, and he also founded C. A. Parsons and Company. This company built Turbinia in 1894, the first steamship powered by a steam turbine.

Parsons worked on designing dynamos, turbines, and power generation systems. His work had a major impact on naval and electrical engineering. He also helped create optical tools for searchlights and telescopes. He was honored with the Franklin Medal in 1920, the Faraday Medal in 1923, and the Copley Medal in 1928 for his achievements. In 1995, he received the Engineering Heritage Awards after his death.

His inventions were used in many devices during the early 1900s, including naval and optical equipment. He joined the Royal Society in 1898 and led the British Association from 1916 to 1919. In 1911, he was knighted for his lasting contributions. He became a member of the Order of Merit in 1927 and received the Bessemer Gold Medal in 1929.

Parsons died in 1931 while traveling on the ship Duchess of Richmond due to neuritis, a nerve disease. He was buried in the church of St Bartholomew in Kirkwhelpington, Northumberland.

Career and commercial activity

Charles Parsons was born on June 13, 1854, in London, England. He was the youngest son of William Parsons, a famous astronomer and the 3rd Earl of Rosse. His family’s main home was Birr Castle in County Offaly, Ireland. The town of Birr was named Parsonstown from 1620 to 1901, after the Parsons family.

Parsons and his three brothers were taught at home in Ireland by private tutors, including John Purser and Sir Robert Ball. These tutors were experts in science and helped the Earl with his work in astronomy. Later, Parsons studied mathematics at Trinity College Dublin and St. John’s College, Cambridge. He graduated from Cambridge in 1877 with the highest honors. He then worked as an apprentice at W. G. Armstrong’s engineering firm in Newcastle, a rare choice for someone from a noble family. Later, he worked on rocket-powered torpedoes at Kitsons in Leeds.

In 1884, Parsons joined Clarke, Chapman and Co., a ship-engine manufacturer near Newcastle. He became the head of their electrical-equipment development. Using Regnault’s data on steam properties, he designed a steam turbine engine that turned at 18,000 RPM in 1884. He used this engine to power an electrical generator he also designed. His turbine made electricity more affordable and transformed marine transport and naval warfare.

At the same time, Gustaf de Laval invented a different type of steam turbine in the 1880s. His design used impulse forces that put stress on the machine, limiting its power because materials were not strong enough. Parsons explained in a 1911 lecture that his understanding of scaling issues led to his breakthrough in creating a compound steam turbine in 1884.

In 1889, Parsons founded C. A. Parsons and Company in Newcastle to build turbo generators. That same year, he started the Newcastle and District Electric Lighting Company (DisCo). In 1890, DisCo opened Forth Banks Power Station, the first power station in the world to use turbo generators to produce electricity. In 1894, Parsons regained some patent rights from Clarke Chapman. His first turbine was only 1.6% efficient and produced 7.5 kilowatts, but improvements soon led to his first megawatt turbine, built in 1899 for a plant in Elberfeld, Germany.

Parsons also focused on marine applications. He founded the Parsons Marine Steam Turbine Company in Newcastle. In June 1897, his turbine-powered yacht, Turbinia, unexpectedly appeared at the Navy Review for Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee. It demonstrated its speed in front of Prince of Wales, foreign leaders, and Admiralty officials. Turbinia reached 34 knots (63 km/h; 39 mph), faster than other Royal Navy ships. Its speed partly came from its narrow hull.

Within two years, destroyers HMS Viper and Cobra were built with Parsons’ turbines. Soon after, the first turbine-powered passenger ship, TS King Edward, was launched in 1901. In 1905, the first turbine-powered transatlantic liners, RMS Victorian and Virginian, were introduced. In 1906, the first turbine-powered battleship, HMS Dreadnought, was launched, all using Parsons’ engines. (As of 2012, Turbinia is displayed at the Discovery Museum in Newcastle.)

Parsons was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1898, received the Rumford Medal in 1902, and the Copley Medal in 1928. He delivered the Bakerian Lecture in 1918 and served as president of the British Association from 1916 to 1919. He was an invited speaker at the International Congress of Mathematicians in 1924. Knighted in 1911, he became a member of the Order of Merit in 1927. In 1929, he was awarded the Bessemer Gold Medal by the Iron and Steel Institute.

The Parsons turbine company continues as part of Siemens, a German company, in the Heaton area of Newcastle. In 1925, Charles Parsons acquired the Grubb Telescope Company and renamed it Grubb Parsons. This company operated in Newcastle until 1985.

Parsons also designed the Auxetophone, an early compressed-air gramophone.

Personal life and death

In 1883, Sir Charles Algernon Parsons married Katharine Bethell, the daughter of William F. Bethell. They had two children: Rachel Mary Parsons (born in 1885), who became an engineer and campaigner, and Algernon George "Tommy" Parsons (born in 1886), who died in battle during World War I in 1918 at the age of 31.

The family lived at 1 Upper Brook Street, Mayfair, London, from 1918 to 1931.

Sir Charles Algernon Parsons died on February 11, 1931, while traveling on the steamship Duchess of Richmond during a cruise with his wife. The cause of his death was listed as neuritis. A memorial service was held at Westminster Abbey on March 3, 1931. He was buried in the parish church of St Bartholomew’s in Kirkwhelpington, Northumberland.

His wife, Katharine, passed away in 1933 at their home in Ray Demesne, Kirkwhelpington, Northumberland. Rachel Parsons died in 1956; Denis James Pratt, a stableman, was convicted of her manslaughter.

In 1919, Katharine and her daughter Rachel co-founded the Women’s Engineering Society with Eleanor Shelley-Rolls, Margaret, Lady Moir, Laura Annie Willson, Margaret Rowbotham, and Janetta Mary Ornsby. The organization continues to exist today. Sir Charles initially supported the group but was no longer involved after his wife resigned.

Commemoration

Parsons's family home at Birr Castle in Ireland has a museum that shows how the Parsons family helped develop science and engineering. A section of the museum is dedicated to the engineering work of Charles Parsons.

Parsons is shown on the back of an Irish silver 15-euro proof coin made in 2017.

The Irish Academy of Engineering gives out the Parsons Medal, named after Charles Parsons, each year to an engineer who has made an outstanding contribution to engineering. Past 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)