eHive Object Details

Name/TitleAlexander Duckham, English businessman, and Louis Bleriot, pioneer aviator

About this objectLouis Bleriot was a French inventor, engineer and pioneer aviator. He was born in 1872 and following an engineering education he obtained a position with an electrical engineering company. There he developed a successful car headlamp. He left the company and set up his own successful headlamp business. He became interested in aviation and was able to finance his own aviation experiments. He built a number of aircraft, most of which were failures, but finally in 1908 he produced the Bleriot XI, generally regarded as the first successful monoplane.

In 1909 Bleriot became the first person to fly a heavier-than-air aircraft across the English Channel when he piloted his Bleriot XI from near Calais to Dover in 36 minutes and 30 seconds. The publicity resulting form this flight resulted in a demand for the Bleriot XI and by the end of the year Bleriot had orders for over 100 aircraft. By 1914 and the outbreak of World War 1 production of this model or variations of it totalled over 900 aircraft. In 1914 Bleriot formed the Société Pour L'Aviation et ses Dérivés (SPAD) which produced large numbers of fighter aircraft during the war. Bleriot remained involved with aviation until his death in 1936.

Alexander Duckham, born in England in 1877, studied chemistry at university. After graduation he became interested in lubrication and lubricants and in 1899 he started his own company, Alexander Duckham & Co, in Millwall. With the increasing use of internal combustion engines in motor vehicles and aircraft the demand for Duckham’s products increased, particularly during World War 1 and afterwards. By the time of Alexander’s death in 1945 his company was dominant in the lubricants field. The company continued under his son until taken over by BP in 1989. Alexander Duckham was also a pioneer aviator and became a close friend of Louis Bleriot.

This image shows both men together in the cockpit of an aircraft, probably a Bleriot XII two-seat monoplane. Duckham paid for a stone memorial in the shape of a planform of Bleriot’s aircraft inlaid on the spot near Dover where Bleriot landed after his cross-Channel flight in 1909.

One of the many slides purchased from retailers or specifically made for illustrated lectures given by Isaac Selby between c. 1930 and c. 1955 to raise money for the Old Pioneers Memorial Fund.

This image is provided for research purposes and must not be reproduced without prior permission.For a high resolution copy of this image, contact Royal Historical Society of Victoria

Date Madec. 1909

Period1900-1910

Object TypeGlass slide

Subject and Association KeywordsCivil aviation

Subject and Association KeywordsFamous aviators

Subject and Association KeywordsNotable flights

Subject and Association KeywordsEarly aircraft - pre-1914

Medium and MaterialsGelatin silver print on glass

Named CollectionImages collection

Object numberGS-OS-1004

Copyright LicenceAll rights reserved