Bessemer, Sir Henry 1813-98
English metallurgist and inventor

Born in Charlton, Hertfordshire, he learned metallurgy in his father's type foundry, and at the age of 17 set up his own business in London to produce small castings and art work. In 1840 he developed a method for the production of bronze powder and 'gold' paint, at a fraction of the cost of the long-established German process. The profits from this enterprise enabled him to set up his own small iron-works at St Pancras in London. In 1855, as a result of his efforts to find a method of manufacturing stronger gun-barrels for use in the Crimean War (1853-56), he patented an economical process by which molten pig-iron can be turned directly into steel by blowing air through it in a 'Bessemer converter'. Bessemer established a steelworks at Sheffield in 1859, which expanded from armaments to meet the worldwide demand for steel rails, locomotives and bridges. He was elected FRS in 1877 and knighted in 1879. Other English steelmasters were reluctant to accept Bessemer's process, but in the USA entrepreneurs like Andrew Carnegie made a fortune from it.

Bibliography: An Autobiography (1905)