Henry Shrapnel
From Graces Guide
Henry Shrapnel (3 June 1761 - 13 March 1842) was a British Army officer and inventor, most famously, of the "shrapnel shell".
- Born on 3 June 1761, the youngest son of the nine children of Zachariah Shrapnel (1724–1796) from Midnay Manor House, Bradford-on-Avon, Wiltshire, and his wife, Lydia (née Needham).
- 1784, while a lieutenant in the Royal Artillery, he perfected, with his own resources, an invention of what he called "spherical case" ammunition: a hollow cannon ball filled with shot which burst in mid-air. This device was for use as an anti-personnel weapon. The first shells were designed and built with the Carron Co
- 1803 When it was finally adopted by the British Army in 1803, it immediately acquired the inventor's name: the shrapnel shell. (It has lent the term "shrapnel" to fragmentation from artillery shells and fragmentation in general ever since, long after it was replaced by high explosive rounds.)
- Shrapnel served in Flanders where he was wounded in 1793 and was promoted to major on 1 November 1803 after eight years as a captain.
- 1804 After his invention's success in battle on 30 April 1804, Shrapnel was promoted to lieutenant colonel on 20 July 1804, less than nine weeks later.
- 1814 In recognition of Shrapnel's contribution, the British Government awarded him £1,200 a year for life.
- 1827 He was appointed to the office of Colonel-Commandant, Royal Artillery, on 6 March 1827.
- 1837 He rose to the rank of lieutenant-general on 10 January 1837.
- 1842 Died
- Until the end of the World War I shells were still being manufactured according to his original principles.
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