The Mountain Laboratory

In 1934 Matthews built Tor Clawdd, a mountain retreat set high up in the Welsh mountains overlooking Swansea, with a well-equipped laboratory, bedrooms, bathrooms, a lounge, dining room and kitchen. It also had its own power and water supply and was the ideal place for him to continue with his work in relative seclusion. Matthews was a qualified pilot and behind Tor Clawdd had a small airstrip built so that he could land his own private light aeroplane. Surrounding the property was a tall electrified fence topped with barbed wire to keep away any snoopers.

Tor Clawdd - The Mountain Laboratory [O]

During his time spent at Tor Clawdd Matthews returned to his earlier work on submarine detection and invented an Aerial Torpedo to defend cities from airborne attack. This was a small rocket launched from the ground that would fire a series of smaller secondary rockets in all directions, like the spokes of a wheel, to a distance of about 200 yards. Inside each of the smaller rockets was a carton that contained a small bomb attached to a parachute by a length of serrated wire. As the carton fell back to earth the tiny parachute would be deployed with, hanging from the wire, a small bomb attached to it. With lots of these small bombs parachuting back to earth the whole thing created an aerial minefield. Matthews even visited officials at Downing Street to try and interest the government.

Plans for the Aerial Torpedo [P]

He also worked on the Stratoplane and rocket travel. 'Travel by Rocket in 10 Years' appeared in the Daily Mail on October 29th 1936 and described his vision of air travel for the future. 'By the proper use of rockets we shall be able to breakfast in London, lunch in New York, and be back in London in time for Dinner … Travel in the stratosphere by rocket-plane will be anything from one to two thousand miles per hour … passengers sitting in their hermetically sealed cabin … the machine would be little different in appearance from the aeroplanes of to-day, except that there would be no propeller … there will be no engine but in each wing will be three or four repulsors, all of them capable of developing 200 h.p. A special liquid fuel will take the place of petrol …'

The End

In 1941 Matthews was planning a return to America to work for the Pacent Engineering Company. But on September 11th 1941 his housekeeper found him slumped on the floor of his living room. He died from a heart attack later that same day. It is rumoured that government officials removed much of his equipment and notes from his laboratory in the days following his death.

It's difficult to imagine life without the myriad of wireless gadgets we enjoy today: television, mobile phones, the internet, satellite navigation, fax machines and so on. Take them away and life comes to a shuddering halt. For all the mystery and intrigue surrounding the life of this remarkable inventor one thing is certain: for all his achievements, recognised or not, Harry Grindell Matthews was truly a man ahead of his time and deserves to be remembered.