Sir Oliver Lodge — Stoke-on-Trent’s Original Spark
A Son of the Potteries
Oliver Joseph Lodge was born on 12th June 1851 at ‘The Views’ in Penkhull, Stoke-on-Trent — right here in our city. The eldest son of a local family, he would go on to become one of the most celebrated scientists of his age, knighted and made a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1902, and the first Principal of the University of Birmingham.
The Man Behind the Spark
Lodge invented the electric spark ignition — known as the Lodge Igniter — for the internal combustion engine. It was the ancestor of the spark plug found in engines the world over. Two of his sons developed his ideas further and founded the Lodge Plug Company, taking a Stoke-on-Trent mind’s invention into workshops and garages across the globe.
A Pioneer of Radio
Remarkably, the spark plug isn’t even what Lodge is best remembered for. He was a pioneer of wireless communication and among the first to transmit a message by radio, demonstrating his methods for sending and detecting radio waves in a famous lecture in 1894 — including his improved receiver, the ‘coherer’. His tuning patents helped shape early radio communication itself.
A boy from Penkhull helped ignite the modern world — proof that world-changing talent can come from anywhere, including right here in Stoke-on-Trent.
That’s why we’re called The Spark Group. Lodge’s story is the story we want for the young people of North Staffordshire: discover the spark, nurture it, and there’s no telling how far it can travel. Find out how we help people discover their spark…