Sir Frederick Augustus Abel, 1st Bt
(1827-1902), Chemist and explosives expertSitter in 8 portraits
Sir Frederick Augustus Abel was a chemist and explosives specialist who, with the chemist Sir James Dewar, invented cordite, which was later adopted as the standard explosive of the British army. Abel studied chemistry at the Royal Polytechnic Institution and in 1845 became one of the original twenty-six students of A.W. von Hofmann at the Royal College of Chemistry. In 1852 he was appointed lecturer in chemistry at the Royal Military Academy in Woolwich, succeeding Michael Faraday. 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.
Sir Frederick Augustus Abel, 1st Bt
by Frank Bramley
oil on canvas, 1900
NPG 4926
Sir Frederick Augustus Abel, 1st Bt
by Henry Joseph Whitlock
albumen carte-de-visite, 1860s
NPG Ax18344
Sir Frederick Augustus Abel, 1st Bt
by W. & D. Downey, published by Cassell & Company, Ltd
carbon print, published 1890
NPG Ax14742
Sir Frederick Augustus Abel, 1st Bt
by W. & D. Downey, published by Cassell & Company, Ltd
carbon print, published 1890
NPG x3
Sir Frederick Augustus Abel, 1st Bt
by Henry Joseph Whitlock
albumen carte-de-visite, 1860s-1870s
NPG x18344
Sir Frederick Augustus Abel, 1st Bt
by W. & D. Downey
carbon print, circa 1890
NPG x14742
Sir Frederick Augustus Abel, 1st Bt
by W. & D. Downey
carbon print, published 1890
NPG x261
Sir Frederick Augustus Abel, 1st Bt
by W. & D. Downey, published by Cassell & Company, Ltd
carbon print, published 1890
NPG x260
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