Henry Winstanley (31 March 1644 - 27 November 1703) was an English painter, engineer and merchant responsible for the first construction of a lighthouse on the dangerous Eddystone rocks. He was killed at the lighthouse during the Great Storm of 1703.
Biography[]
Winstanley was born and baptised at Saffron Walden, Essex, in March 1644. He worked as a painter after studying engraving in 1674 and was responsible for a detailed set of architectural engravings at Audley House which it took him ten years to complete, starting in 1676, and designed a popular set of playing cards. He was well known in Essex for his engineering skills and fascination with mechanical and hydraulic gadgets, having a house built for him at Littlebury known as the "Essex House of Wonders" filled with bizarre mechanisms of his own design. In the 1890s he opened "Winstanley's Water-works" in London, a commercial attraction which combined fireworks, perpetual fountains and various automated and hydraulic mechanisms which proved a commercial success.
Winstanley used the money he gained from his various enterprises to become a merchant, investing in five ships. Two of his ships were wrecked on the Eddystone rocks, a nine-mile cluster of rocks off the coast of Plymouth which had wrecked many ships and were so feared that mariners would sail to the other side of the English Channel just to avoid having to navigate them. Winstanley contacted the Admiralty demanding to know why there was no lighthouse on the rocks and was told that they were too treacherous to mark, at which point Winstanley declared he would construct a lighthouse there himself. Construction began on 14 July 1696.
During the lighthouse's construction, a naval vessel assigned to protect the workers (England was at war with France at this time) was transferred to the fleet without the Admiralty providing a replacement. This allowed a French privateer to destroy the foundations that had been built so far and take Winstanley prisoner. Winstanley was taken to France, but was able to petition King Louis XIV, who ordered his immediate return to England upon hearing of his purpose on the rocks, explaining that "France is not at war with humanity".
The lighthouse was completed in November 1698. It soon suffered weather damage, and the light was often obscured by spray, so Winstanley had it rebuilt at an even greater height and with more elaborate decoration the following year. During the five years Winstanley's lighthouse was in operation, no ships were wrecked on the Eddystone.
Winstanley had great faith in his lighthouse, expressing a desire to be inside during "the greatest storm there ever was" in order to show how safe it was. His wish was granted in 1703, when the "Great Storm" of that year struck while Winstanley was visiting the lighthouse. He was inside when the lighthouse was struck by the storm on 27 November, destroying it and killing Winstanley and seven others. A second Eddystone lighthouse was built by John Rudyard after Winstanley's death.