Thorsten worked for a Swedish company in London from 1862 to 1866 and migrated to England in 1867 when he married Emma Stansfeld Grundy.

Thorsten Nordenfelt and his brother-in-law started a small business to trade Swedish steel for British rails in 1867.

His company also designed a range of anti-torpedoboat guns in calibres from 37 to 57 mm, that were produced in Erith, Kent, Stockholm and Spain.

), architect for brewer Watney Combe & Reid[1] Discussions between Thorsten Nordenfelt and the English reverend George Garrett led to the production of a series of steam-powered submarines.

The first was the Nordenfelt I, a 56-tonne, 19.5-metre long vessel similar to Garret's ill-fated Resurgam (1879), with a range of 240 kilometres and armed with a single torpedo and a 25.4 mm machine gun.