RED GLARE, BURSTING IN THE AIR

See Also: CHEMICALS Gunpowder; GUNS

By the late 18^thC rockets formed part of the arsenal that was used in warfare in South Asia. Prince Hyder Ali deployed them against East India Company forces during the Second (1779-84), Third (1789-92), and Fourth Mysore Wars (1798-99). Europeans appreciated that the weapon might be worth acquiring.

William Congreve ran a partisan newspaper that supported the Tories. In 1804 a libel action was brought against the publication. The suit was successful and the paper was forced to close. The failed editor's father was Lieutenant-General Sir William Congreve 1^st Bt., the Comptroller of the Royal Laboratory at the Royal Arsenal at Woolwich. Congreve fils, without formally joining the Army, used the facility's resources to investigate whether he could fabricate rockets for use in the war that Britain was then waging against Napoleonic France.

The first Congreve solid fuel rocket was demonstrated at the Arsenal in 1805. The Prince of Wales soon proved to be an enthusiast for the weapon. The Royal Gunpowder Mill at Waltham Abbey started to manufacture the projectile.

The following year, during an assault on Boulogne, Congreve rockets were used by the Royal Navy for the first time. In 1807 the service fired some during a bombardment of Copenhagen. A British army that was fighting in Iberia was equipped with them. Its commander, the 1^st Duke of Wellington, had a low opinion of the missile.

In 1809 two Rocket Troops were formed as part of the British Army's Royal Horse Artillery. Members of one of these units participated in the Battle of The Nations (1813) that was fought near Leipzig. They were commanded by Congreve, who had been made an honorary officer of the Hanoverian Army. This appointment had fudged the fact that he was not a soldier.

The War of 1812 involved Britain and the United States fighting one another. Rockets were used at the Battle of Bladensburg. Subsequently, Washington D.C. was occupied by a British force. In 1814 the weapon was employed when Fort McHenry, near Baltimore, was attacked. The event prompted Francis Scott Key to include the line 'And the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air' in his poem The Star Spangled Banner.

Location: The Imperial Gas Works, Twelvetrees Crescent at Prologis Park, Bromley-by-Bow, E3 3JG. The works were built on the site of Congreve's factory.

The Royal Arsenal, Woolwich, SE18 6ST

David Backhouse 2024