FROUDE, WILLIAM, fourth son of Ven. Robert Hurrell Froude, Archdeacon of Totnes and Rector of Dartington, Devon, and Margaret Spedding, Mirehouse; b. 28 Nov 1810; adm. 28 May 1823 (Stelfox's); KS 1824; elected to Trinity Coll. Cambridge 1828, adm. pens. 16 May 1828, but went to Oriel Coll. Oxford, matr. 23 Oct 1828; 1st cl. Mathematics and 3rd cl. Lit. Hum. 1832; BA 1832; MA 1837; pupil of Henry Robinson Palmer, civil engineer, 1833; joined engineering staff of Isambard Kingdom Brunel on the Bristol and Exeter Railway 1837; while working for Brunel he propounded the “curve of adjustment”; gave up active involvement in civil engineering in mid 1840s, owing to failing health of his father; undertook research into ship design; devised bilge-keels to prevent the rolling of ships; conducted experiments at the Admiralty Experiment Works, Torquay, on the resistance and propulsion of ships; invented a dynamometer to determine the power of large marine engines; MICE 7 Apr 1846, member Council 1877; FRS 2 Jun 1870, Royal Medal 1876; LLD Glasgow 27 Apr 1876; m. 4 May 1839 Catherine Henrietta Easterbrook, youngest dau. of Arthur Howe Holdsworth MP, Widdicombe and Brooke Hill, Devon; d. at Admiralty House, Simonstown, Cape Colony 4 May 1879. DNB.