Sir Thomas Octave Murdoch Sopwith, CBE, Hon FRAeS, lived from January 18, 1888, to January 27, 1989. He was a British individual who made important contributions to aviation, business, and sailing.

Early life

Thomas Sopwith was born on January 18, 1888, in Kensington, London. He was the eighth child and only son of Thomas Sopwith, a civil engineer and managing director of the Spanish Lead Mines Company in Linares, Jaén, Spain, and his wife, Lydia Gertrude Messiter. He was also the grandson of mining engineer Thomas Sopwith. Sopwith attended Cottesmore School in Hove and studied at Seafield Park engineering college in Hill Head.

On July 30, 1898, when he was ten years old and on a family trip to the Isle of Lismore near Oban, Scotland, a gun resting on his knee fired, killing his father. This event remained with Sopwith for the rest of his life.

Sopwith enjoyed motorcycles and participated in the 100-mile Tricar trial in 1904, where he received a medal. He also tried ballooning, making his first flight in C.S. Rolls’ balloon in June 1906. Later, he and Phil Paddon purchased a balloon from Short Brothers. For a time, he worked with Phil Paddon to sell automobiles as Paddon & Sopwith on Albemarle Street in Piccadilly, London.

As a young man, Sopwith was a skilled ice skater and played in goal for the Princes Ice Hockey Club during their 1908 match against C.P.P. Paris and during the 1909–10 season. He was also a member of the Great Britain national ice hockey team that won the gold medal at the first European Championships in 1910.

Career in aviation

Sopwith became interested in flying after watching John Moisant complete the first passenger flight across the English Channel. His first flight was with Gustave Blondeau in a Farman aircraft at Brooklands. He quickly learned to fly on his own using a Howard Wright Avis monoplane and made his first solo flight on 22 October 1910. He crashed after flying about 300 yards (275 m), but he improved quickly. On 22 November, he received Royal Aero Club Aviation Certificate No. 31 while flying a Howard Wright 1910 Biplane.

On 18 December 1910, Sopwith won the £4000 Baron de Forest Prize for the longest flight from England to the Continent in a British-built airplane. He flew 169 miles (272 km) in 3 hours 40 minutes. He used the prize money to start the Sopwith School of Flying at Brooklands.

On 28 June 1911, as the RMS Olympic left New York City on its first eastbound trip, Sopwith flew to the ship to deliver a package of supplies for passenger Washington Atlee Burpee. The package narrowly missed the deck and fell into the Hudson River.

In June 1912, Sopwith, along with Fred Sigrist and others, founded the Sopwith Aviation Company at Brooklands. On 24 October 1912, Harry Hawker flew a Wright Model B airplane, completely rebuilt by Sopwith and fitted with an ABC 40 hp engine, to win the British Michelin Endurance prize with a flight lasting 8 hours 23 minutes.

Sopwith Aviation received its first military aircraft order in November 1912. The company moved to larger buildings in Canbury Park Road, Kingston upon Thames, in December. The factory site is now a private housing estate. A small part of the original building still stands at the intersection of Elm Crescent and Canbury Park Road. White painted bay windows remain to allow more light into the large room where Sopwith created blueprints for his aircraft designs.

The company produced over 18,000 World War I aircraft for the Allied forces, including 5,747 Sopwith Camel single-seat fighters. Sopwith was awarded the CBE in 1918.

After the war, he became bankrupt due to taxes meant to stop unfair profits and a failed motorcycle business. In 1920, he returned to aviation with a new company named after his chief engineer and test pilot, Harry Hawker. He became chairman of the new firm, Hawker Aircraft.

Sopwith was made a Knight Bachelor in 1953. After the government took over the aviation interests of Hawker Siddeley in 1977, he worked as a consultant for the company until 1980.

In 1979, Sopwith was inducted into the International Air & Space Hall of Fame at the San Diego Air & Space Museum. He was a member of the Air Squadron flying club.

Yachting

In 1934, Sopwith entered the America's Cup competition with his J-class yacht, Endeavour. In 1937, he used another J-class yacht, Endeavour II. Both yachts were designed by Charles E. Nicholson. Sopwith paid for, organized, and captained the yachts. Although he did not win the Cup, he became well-known for nearly winning it in 1934. In 1995, he was added to the America's Cup Hall of Fame.

In 1927, Sopwith asked yacht builders Camper and Nicholsons to create a luxury motor yacht, which he named Vita. In 1929, Vita was sold to Sir John Shelley-Rolls, who renamed it Alastor. During World War II, the Royal Navy took control of the yacht to deliver supplies to Navy ships near Strangford Lough. In 1946, a fire destroyed the yacht, and it sank in Ringhaddy Sound, Strangford Lough.

In 1937, Sopwith received another yacht, Philante, built by Camper and Nicholsons. During World War II, the Royal Navy used Philante as a convoy escort ship, named HMS Philante. After the war, the ship was returned to Sopwith. In 1947, he sold it to Norway, where it became the royal yacht of the King of Norway.

Personal life

Sopwith married Beatrice Hore-Ruthven (1871–1930) in 1914, but they did not have any children. Beatrice was the daughter of Walter Hore-Ruthven, who was made Baron Ruthven of Gowrie in 1919. After Beatrice's death, he married Phyllis Brodie Gordon (1892–1978) in 1932. Their son, Thomas Edward Brodie Sopwith, was successful in car racing.

Sopwith's house in Mayfair at No. 46 Green Street, where he lived from 1934 to 1940, has a blue plaque. In 1940, he moved to Warfield Hall in Berkshire, which he bought the year before.

Sopwith's 100th birthday was marked by a flypast of military aircraft flying over his home, Compton Manor in King's Somborne, Hampshire. He died in Hampshire on 27 January 1989, nine days after his 101st birthday. His grave and his second wife's (Phyllis Brodie) grave are in the churchyard of All Saints Church, Little Somborne, near Winchester.

Legacy and tributes

Sir Thomas Sopwith's official biography is Pure Luck (2005), written by Alan Bramson. The book includes an introduction by the Prince of Wales (ISBN 1-85260-263-5). On 8 November 1978, Sir Thomas was interviewed by Anna Malinovska, an art historian. This interview was later published in Voices in Flight (2006).

A bronze bust of Sir Thomas Sopwith was unveiled at Kingston Library, London, on 26 September 2014. The sculptor was Ambrose Barber, who previously worked as an executive at Hawker. In the same year, a plaque was placed at Canbury Gardens in Kingston upon Thames by Sir Thomas's son to honor the Sopwith aviation company.

Several places are named after Thomas Sopwith. Sopwith Way is a street in Kingston upon Thames. Sopwith Road, located on the site of the former Heston Aerodrome, is also named after him. Another Sopwith Road is in Warfield, Bracknell, Berkshire. This road is near Sir Thomas's former home, Warfield Hall, and the newly built Woodhurst school, which is part of Warfield CE Primary School.