13 Facts About Frederick Abel

Frederick Abel is best known for the invention of cordite as a replacement for gunpowder in firearms.

From 1854 until 1888 Abel served as ordnance chemist at the Chemical Establishment of the Royal Arsenal at Woolwich, establishing himself as the leading British authority on explosives.

Frederick Abel extensively researched the behaviour of black powder when ignited, with the Scottish physicist Sir Andrew Noble.

In electricity, Frederick Abel studied the construction of electrical fuses and other applications of electricity to warlike purposes.

Frederick Abel was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1860 and received their Royal Medal in 1887.

Frederick Abel was president of the Chemical Society, of the Institution of Electrical Engineers, of the Institute of Chemistry and of the Society of Chemical Industry.

Frederick Abel was president of the Iron and Steel Institute in 1891 and was awarded the Bessemer Gold Medal in 1897 for his work on problems of steel manufacture.

Frederick Abel was awarded the Telford Medal by the Institution of Civil Engineers in 1879.

Frederick Abel was made a Commander of the Order of the Bath in 1877.

Frederick Abel was Rede Lecturer and received an honorary doctorate from Cambridge University in 1888.

Frederick Abel was upgraded Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath on 3 February 1891, created a baronet, of Cadogan Place in the Parish of Chelsea in the County of London, on 25 May 1893 and made a Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order on 8 March 1901.

Frederick Abel died at his residence in Whitehall Court, London, on 6 September 1902, aged 75, and was buried in Nunhead Cemetery, London.

Frederick Abel married twice; first to Sarah Blanch, daughter of James Blanch, of Bristol; secondly after his first wife's death to Giulietta de La Feuillade.