Harold Barnwell

Who was Harold Barnwell?

Harold Barnwell was an aircraft pioneer. He was born in Lewisham south east London, the son of Richard Barnwell, a director of the Clyde shipbuilder, Fairfields. Barnwell was brought up at Elcho House in Balfron, Stirlingshire, and educated at Fettes College in Edinburgh. He had a younger brother, Frank.

Frank and Harold Barnwell built their first glider in 1905, in Balfron, and, later built three powered aircraft. They then opened the Grampian Engineering and Motor Company in 1906 at Causewayhead in Stirling. From their garage they produced three aircraft between 1908 and 1910. The first was underpowered and failed to fly, but the second aircraft, a canard biplane was successfully flown from a field in Causewayhead under the Wallace Monument on 28 July 1909. Piloted by Harold, it only flew 80 yards at an altitude of about four metres before it crashed, but it is still recognised as Scotland’s first powered flight. Next the brothers built a monoplane with which Harold won a prize of £50 offered by the Scottish Aeronautical Society for the first flight of more than a mile to be made in Scotland in January 1911.