Rev Alexander John Forsyth
(1769-1843)

Reverend

Died aged 73

Alexander John Forsyth (28 December 1768 – 11 June 1843) was a Scottish Church of Scotland minister who first successfully used fulminating (or 'detonating') chemicals to prime gunpowder in fire-arms thereby creating what became known as percussion ignition.

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Commemorated on 1 plaque

Terence Eden on Flickr
London, United Kingdom

PER ASPERA TENAX 1768 -1843 To the Memory of the Reverend ALEXANDER JOHN FORSYTH MA.LLD Minister of Belhelvie Aberdeenshire In 1805 he conducted experiments in the Tower under the Master General of Ordnance and in 1807 invented the percussion system which was adopted by the British Army in 1839 This Tablet was erected in 1929 by admirers of his genius

Tower of London, London, United Kingdom where they worked