Shrapnel, Henry (1761-1842)

British army officer who invented shells containing bullets, to increase the spread of casualties, first used in 1804; hence the word shrapnel to describe shell fragments.

Shrapnel was born in Bradford-on-Avon, Wiltshire. He received a commission in the Royal Artillery in 1779, and in the following year he went to Newfoundland, returning to England in 1783. He served in the Duke of York's unsuccessful campaign against France in 1793, being wounded in the siege of Dunkirk. In 1804, he was appointed inspector of artillery at the Royal Arsenal in Woolwich, London. He retired with the rank of lieutenant general. Shrapnel had spent several thousand pounds of his own money in perfecting his inventions. The Treasury eventually granted him a pension of £1,200 a year for life.

Shrapnel's shell was fused and filled with musket balls, plus a small charge of black powder to explode the container after a predetermined period of time. The first shells were round; later they were of an elongated form with added velocity. Shrapnel's shells continued to be used until World War I.