New Book: Henry Trengrouse

The Henry Trengrouse display holds a special place in the museum with the story of invention borne from a desire to save lives at sea. In 1807, Trengrouse witnessed the wreck of the HMS Anson and immediately set to designing equipment that would prevent such a tragic loss of life so close to shore. In addition to this, after seeing the bodies of the dead buried in the dunes at Loe Bar, he petitioned local MP Davies Gilbert to change the practice of burying shipwreck victims in unconsecrated ground near the site of a wreck – and this was successfully abolished the following year in 1808.

At the museum we run schools workshops that share this story and now one of our volunteers Jude Carroll has written a book for young readers that tells the story of Henry Trengrouse’s life saving rocket apparatus. The book has been illustrated by Susannah Garland with design and printing by Songhurst Print.

You can buy the book in the museum shop for £4.50 or from Helston Bookshop.

The publication was made possible thanks to a kind donation from some of Henry Trengrouse’s descendants:

As a family, some six generations on, we’re delighted to help the Museum bring new life to the story of our ancestor, Henry Trengrouse. The selfless work he did to save lives at sea is an inspiration to us and anyone else who hears about it. Even now, we are regularly out on the same stretch of coast and sea, reminded of the challenges that he battled to overcome.