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Authorised form of nameHele-Shaw; Henry Selby (1854 - 1941); mechanical and automobile engineer
Other forms of nameHenry Selby Hele-
Other forms of surnameShaw
Dates1854 - 1941
NationalityBritish
Place of birthBillericay, Essex, England
Date of birth29 July 1854
Place of deathCottage Hospital, Ross-on-Wye, Herefordshire, England
Date of death30/01/1941
OccupationEngineer
Research fieldHydraulics
Engineering
Cat-breeding
ActivityEducation:
Pivately educated at a young age; University College, Bristol (1880); LLD (St And)
Career:
Apprenticed at 17 to Messrs Rouch and Leaker, and the Mardyke engineering works of Rouch and Leaker in Bristol (until 1876); lecturer in mathematics and engineering, Bristol (1880); first professor of engineering, Bristol (1881); first occupant of the chair of engineering at the University College of Liverpool (1885); accepted the invitation to initiate a college of engineering at the Transvaal Technical Institute, of which he became principal within a year (1904-05); founded the Whitworth Society and was the Society's first President (1923).
Memberships:
MICE; MIMechE; FRMet
Membership categoryFellow
Date of election01/06/1899
Age at election45
ProposerWilliam Mitchinson Hicks
James Alfred Ewing
William Henry White
Richard Tetley Glazebrook
Oliver Joseph Lodge
Francis Elgar
Alfred George Greenhill
George Gabriel Stokes
Kelvin [William Thomson]
RelationshipsParents: Henry Shaw, a solicitor, and Marion, daughter of Henry Selby Hele, vicar of Grays, Essex.
Siblings: Three brothers.
Spouse: Ella Marion (d. 1947), daughter of Samuel Greg Rathbone, of the famous Liverpool family (1890).
Children: Onse son, killed in the Frist World Wat, and one daughter.
General contextInvented the variable-pitch propeller, contributing to British success in the Battle of Britain in 1940.
Investigated the flow of liquid between parallel glass plates (Hele-Shaw flow).
Invented instruments for recording of wind velocities.
Invented the streamline filter; hydraulic transmission gear; the hydraulic steering gear for ships; pumps and hydraulic motors.
Introduced the first practical automatic variable pitch airscrew in 1924, which twenty years later became essential for almost all fast aircraft.
Royal Society Obituary or MemoirClick to view (may be contained within a meeting notice, presidential address or list of death notices)
SourcesSources:
Bulloch's Roll; DNB
Obituaries:
Obituary Notices of Fellows of the Royal Society 1939-1941 vol 3 pp 791-811, plate, by H L Guy
Royal Society codeNA1726
Archives associated with this Fellow
Reference numberTitleDate
IM/002028Hele-Shaw, Henry Selbynd
IM/Maull/002027Hele-Shaw, Henry Selbynd
NLB/18/774Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Professor Hele-Shaw, University College, Liverpool10 May 1899
NLB/20/818Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Messrs Harrison & Sons12 July 1900
NLB/16/500Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Sir G G Stokes, Fellow of the Royal Society22 April 1898
RR/15/58Referee's report by John Ambrose Fleming, on a paper 'Lines of induction in a magnetic field' by Henry Selby Hele-Shaw and Alfred Hay28 June 1900
RR/16/194Referee's report by Joseph Larmor, on a paper 'Two-dimensional problems in magnetic induction, with special reference to flux distribution in toothed-core armatures' by Henry Selby Hele-Shaw, Alfred Hay and P H Powell27 February 1904
NLB/29/581Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Professor Henry Selby Hele Shaw, Fellow of the Royal Society9 November 1904
NLB/19/22Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Professor Henry Selby Hele-Shaw, Fellow of the Royal Society3 June 1899
NLB/18/726Copy letter from Arthur William Rucker, to Professor H S Hele Shaw1 May 1899
NLB/18/713Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Professor Hele Shaw27 April 1899
NLB/22/459Copy telegram from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to [Henry Selby] Hele-Shaw, [Fellow of the Royal Society]18 May 1901
NLB/20/795Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Professor George Carey Foster, Fellow of the Royal Society11 July 1900
NLB/21/6Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Professor Henry Selby Hele-Shaw, Fellow of the Royal Society16 July 1900
NLB/21/85Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Professor Henry Selby Hele-Shaw, Fellow of the Royal Society26 July 1900
NLB/22/469Copy telegram from The Royal Society, to [Henry Selby] Hele-Shaw, [Fellow of the Royal Society], University College, Liverpool21 May 1901
NLB/21/331Copy letter from Michael Foster, to Professor Henry Selby Hele-Shaw, Fellow of the Royal Society, and Alfred Hay1 November 1900
NLB/21/382Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Professor Henry Selby Hele-Shaw, Fellow of the Royal Society7 November 1900
NLB/22/700Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Professor [Henry Selby] Hele-Shaw, Fellow of the Royal Society, 27 Ullet Road, Sexton Park, Liverpool27 June 1901
NLB/27/470Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Professor Henry Selby Hele-Shaw, Fellow of the Royal Society, Liverpool 2 October 1903
NLB/32/388Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to [Messrs Harrison & Sons]3 March 1906
NLB/28/331Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Professor A Hay, 35 Lissenden Mansions, Lissonden Gardens, Highgate Road, N.W.19 February 1904
NLB/30/317Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Professor Henry Selby Hele-Shaw, Fellow of the Royal Society3 March 1905
NLB/37/136Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison to Harrison & Sons30 January 1908
NLB/28/501Copy letter from Joseph Larmor, to Professor Henry Selby Hele Shaw, [Fellow of the Royal Society]18 March 1904
NLB/32/163Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to [Messrs Harrison & Sons]17 January 1906
NLB/39/340Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison to Harrison & Sons5 January 1909
NLB/35/138Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Professor Henry Selby Hele-Shaw, Fellow of the Royal Society23 April 1907
NLB/35/237Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Professor Henry Selby Hele-Shaw, Fellow of the Royal Society3 May 1907
NLB/35/390Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Dr Charles Gabriel Seligmann, 15 York Terrace, Regent's Park, N.W.28 May 1907
NLB/34/332Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Henry Selby Hele-Shaw, Fellow of the Royal Society4 January 1907
NLB/36/467Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Messrs W Watson & Sons, Bells Hill, High Barnet, Herefordshire1 November 1907
NLB/34/908Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Dr Henry Selby Hele-Shaw, Fellow of the Royal Society25 March 1907
NLB/47/433Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison to Professor H [Henry] S [Selby] Hele-Shaw FRS29 January 1913
NLB/50/106Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Dr [Henry Selby] Hele Shaw, Fellow of the Royal Society1 May 1914
NLB/51/47Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society to Dr Henry Selby Hele-Shaw FRS26 November 1914
NLB/50/79Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Dr [Henry Selby] Hele-Shaw, Fellow of the Royal Society28 April 1914
NLB/52/456Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; to Sir James Alfred Ewing, FRS14 December 1915
NLB/52/209Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; to Dr. Henry Selby Hele-Shaw, FRS14 October 1915
NLB/54/548Copy letter from Dr. Arthur Schuster, Secretary of the Royal Society; to Professor [Henry Selby] Hele-Shaw, FRS15 June 1917
NLB/56/277Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; to Professor [Henry Selby] Hele Shaw, FRS6 January 1919
NLB/56/301Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; to Dr. [Henry Selby] Hele Shaw, FRS9 January 1919
NLB/52/66Copy letter from Arthur Schuster, Secretary of the Royal Society the Royal Society to Dr Henry Selby Hele-Shaw FRS4 August 1915
RR/9/309Referee's report by William Thomson, Lord Kelvin, on a paper 'The theory of continuous calculating machines and of a mechanism of this class on a new principle' by Henry Selby Hele Shaw22 January 1885
NLB/65/412Copy letter from Francis Alexander Towle, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; to unknown correspondent26 October 1923
NLB/64/536Copy letter from James Hopwood Jeans, Secretary of the Royal Society; to Dr. [Henry Selby] Hele-Shaw, FRS02 May 1923
NLB/72/545Copy letter from Francis Alexander Towle, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; to Dr [Henry Selby] Hele-Shaw, FRS6 December 1929
NLB/16/775Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Professor H S Hele Shaw, Walker Engineering Laboratory, University College, Liverpool3 June 1898
NLB/21/257Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Professor Henry Selby Hele-Shaw, Fellow of the Royal Society12 October 1900
NLB/35/101Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Professor Henry Selby Hele-Shaw, Fellow of the Royal Society16 April 1907
NLB/47/600Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison to Professor H [Henry] S [Selby] Hele-Shaw FRS1 March 1913
RR/28/98Referee's report by George Ingram Taylor, on a paper 'A stream-line filter' by Henry Selby Hele-Shaw[May 1923]
NLB/47/527Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison to Dr H [Henry] S [Selby] Hele-Shaw FRS15 February 1913
RR/16/195Referee's report by John Ambrose Fleming, on a paper 'Two-dimensional problems in magnetic induction, with special reference to flux distribution in toothed-core armatures' by Henry Selby Hele-Shaw, Alfred Hay and P H PowellMarch 1904
EC/1899/09Hele-Shaw, Henry Selby: certificate of election to the Royal Society
NLB/52New Letter Book volume 52, copy letters sent from Royal Society administration9 July 1915-8 March 1916
RR/15/59Referee's report by George Gabriel Stokes, on a paper 'Lines of Induction in a Magnetic Field' by Henry Selby Hele-Shaw and Alfred Hay7 July 1900
RR/16/196Memoranda from Robert William Frederick Harrison [Assistant Secretary], and reply from Hugh Longbourne Callendar, on a paper 'Two-dimensional problems in magnetic induction, with special reference to flux distribution in toothed-core armatures' by Professor Henry Selby Hele-Shaw, Dr Alfred Hay and Mr P H Powell15 March 1904
RR/9/310Referee's report by Osborne Reynolds, on a paper 'The theory of continuous calculating machines and of a mechanism of this class on a new principle' by Henry Selby Hele Shaw25 July 1884
RR/15/154Referee's report by Henry Selby Hele-Shaw, on a paper 'A determination by a thermal method of the variation of the critical velocity of water with temperature' by Howard Turner Barnes and Ernest George Coker15 October 1901
MC/19/402Letter from Alfred Hay, 35 Lissenden Mansion, Lissenden Gardens, Highgate Road, London, to [Robert William Frederick] Harrison15 February 1904
MC/19/404Letter from Alfred Hay, 35 Lissenden Mansion, Lissenden Gardens, Highgate Road, London, to Dr [Joseph] Larmor19 March 1904
MC/28/134Letter from [Henry Selby] Heele Shaw, 64 Victoria Street, Westminster, S.W, to the Assistant Secretary, Royal Society, Burlington House, W28 January 1913
MC/28/135Letter from [Henry Selby] Heele Shaw, 64 Victoria Street, Westminster, S.W, to the Assistant Secretary, Royal Society, Burlington House, W20 February 1913
MC/28/136Letter from [Henry Selby] Heele Shaw, 64 Victoria Street, Westminster, S.W, to the Assistant Secretary, Royal Society, Burlington House, W30 December 1913
MC/28/137Letter from [Henry Selby] Heele Shaw, 64 Victoria Street, Westminster, S.W, to the Assistant Secretary, Royal Society, Burlington House, W22 December 1913
MC/29/122Letter from [Henry Selby] Hele Shaw, 64 Victoria Street, Westminster, S. W, to The Secretary, Royal Society, Burlington House, W24 November 1914
MC/19Volume 19 of miscellaneous correspondence regarding business matters, sent to the Royal Society1904
MC/30/87Letter from [Henry Selby] Hele Shaw, 64 Victoria Street, Westminster, S.W, to The Assistant Secretary, Royal Society, Burlington House, W25 November 1915
MC/34/95Letter from [Henry Selby] Hele Shaw, 64 Victoria Street, Westminster, S.W.1., to The Secretary, Royal Society of London, Burlington House, W.15 January 1919
MC/34/96Letter from Rosa F. Pritchard, Secretary, on behalf of Henry Selby Hele-Sahw] 64 Victoria Street, Westminster, S.W.1., to Robert Harrison, The Royal Society, Burlington House, W.110 January 1919
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