Henry William Clothier

Who was Henry William Clothier?

Henry William Clothier was a British electrical engineer and inventor.

Clothier was born in London, England and served his apprenticeship with Messrs J. & H. Gwynne of Hammersmith. After leaving Gwynnes Limited he joined Dr Sebastian Ziani de Ferranti and Mr C P Sparks, first in London, and then in Hollinwood. It was with Ferranti that he first became interested in switchgear, an interest that was to develop into his life’s work.

In 1905 Clothier went to Tyneside to work with Charles Hesterman Merz and Bernard Price and joined Mr Alphonse C. Reyrolle at A. Reyrolle & Company in 1906, and remained employed with them for the rest of his life. In Tyneside he began an investigation of protective gear for electricity generation, transmission, and distribution at the instigation of Charles Merz and Bernard Price. While thus engaged his attention was directed to improvement of high-voltage switchgear. At the time, switchgear was prone to catching fire, making switchrooms a dangerous place to work. It was largely due to Clothier's work and initiative that both the Merz-Price protective-gear and the metal-clad switchgear, which controlled arcing on open-type electric switchboards, became not only technically but commercially practicable.