Lieutenant-General Henry Shrapnel, 1837 (c)

Colour photolithograph after F Arrowsmith, published 1900 (c).

Henry Shrapnel (1761-1842) was a British Army officer and inventor. Commissioned in 1779, he served with the Royal Artillery in Newfoundland, Gibraltar and the Caribbean. Shrapnel was wounded during the Flanders campaign in 1793. In 1804 he became inspector of artillery at Woolwich Arsenal. Shrapnel was promoted to lieutenant general in 1837. His most famous invention was the shrapnel shell, a hollow ball filled with shot which burst in mid-air. His invention was adopted by the British Army in 1803 and named after him.