SHOW MENUCongreve and Whiting - from red rockets glare to stamps
Introduction
Sir William Congreve (2nd Bt) was the son of Sir William Congreve the controller of the Royal Arsenal. He developed the Congreve military rocket that caused the "Rockets red Glare" of the USA anthem.
As an equerry to the Prince Regent he was responsible for the fireworks at the celebration of the victory of 1814 and the Coronation in 1821. He had started a newspaper in 1799 with James Whiting which closed after they were successfully sued for accusing Admiral Berkeley of cowardice.
Amongst the many patents William Congreve filed was a patent for separating, inking and reassembling multiple interlocking printing plates and another for a sandwich of different coloured papers for security printing. In 1818 as an MP he was involved in finding a more secure method of printing Bank of England banknotes. Even though he was a judge on the panel he employed Robert Branston to produce an entry. A very capable submission was provided by Jacob Perkins. Neither won the competition (there is a suggestion that Congreve used dubious means to discredit the Perkins entry).
In 1828 he died in France having been found guilty by the Parliamentary authorities of fraud.
