This week marks the 241st birthday of Colonel Sir William Congreve of No.1 The Green, Wimbledon Village – inventor of the rockets referred to in the national anthem of the United States.

Americans sing the following words to The Star Spangled Banner:

Oh, say can you see by the dawn's early light What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming?

Whose broad stripes and bright stars thru the perilous fight, O'er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming?

And the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air, Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.

Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

The rockets mentioned were fired by British forces against the Americans in the war of 1812 whose bicentenary fell last year. Sir William Congreve (1772-1828), director of Woolwich Arsenal, had been testing rockets on Wimbledon Common near his home for some time when the war broke out with a US invasion of Canada. Britain was caught on the back foot since its priority at the time was its own defence against the French under Napoleon.

Sir William’s rockets operated like very large fireworks. Rather than a few ounces, the largest ones weighed up to 300 pounds with the biggest mounted on sticks up to 25 feet long. The inventor paid local children to recover the spent cases of smaller ones he tested on Wimbledon Common. Less accurate than gunfire, some smaller rockets could nevertheless be carried on the shoulder like a lance, avoiding the need to drag heavy canons over difficult terrain.

Sir William came from a military family. Son of the Comptroller of the Royal Laboratories at the Royal Arsenal, he designed and developed solid fuel rockets at Woolwich in 1804 and first demonstrated them the following year. They were twice used against the French fleet and in 1809 he was authorised by Parliament to form two rocket companies for the army. They were used against Napoleon’s forces in the Spanish Peninsula War. Sir William received the honorary rank of Lieutenant-Colonel in 1811 and was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society the same year.

After the 1812 war with America broke out, Britain sent 9000 veterans of the Peninsular War to attack the USA and rescue Canada. In 1814 a force of 4000 troops sailed up the Potomac River, captured Washington, and set fire to most of the city’s public buildings, including the White House. Congreve’s rockets were fired from specially equipped ships in an attack on Fort McHenry in Baltimore, giving rise to the words of the US anthem.

When the American war was over and Napoleon too seemed to be finished, Sir William organised an impressive fireworks display in London. He repeated it a few years later for the coronation of King George IV.

In 1814, he succeeded his father both as Baronet Congreve and Comptroller of the Royal Laboratories. As well as the rockets, he invented many other items, some weaponry-linked while others included a hydro-pneumatic canal lock and sluice, a colour printing process, a form of steam engine, a clock, a type of paper for bank notes, and gas meters. He was also a successful businessman and was elected Member of Parliament for Plymouth in 1818.

But while his rockets have been immortalised through the US anthem, he himself suffered a downfall. In 1826 he was involved in a major fraud case. He fled to France, became seriously ill and died there two years later. As well as his birthday on 20 May 1772, this week marks the 185th anniversary of his death on 17 May 1828.

The Wimbledon Society is working with the Wimbledon Guardian to ensure that you, the readers, can share the fascinating discoveries that continue to emerge about our local heritage.

For more information, visit wimbledonsociety.org.uk and www.wimbledonmuseum.org.uk.

Click here for more fascinating articles about Wimbledon's heritage