CLERGYMAN AND GUNS

Evening Star, Issue 20312, 22 October 1929, Page 5

CLERGYMAN AND GUNS

MEMORIAL TO INVENTOR PERCUSSION LOCK'S ORIGIN The memory of a man who, although in Holy Orders, played a no small part in the development of modern munitions of war, is being perpetuated in the Tower of London. A tablet is being erected there to recall the association with that fortress of the Rev. Alexander John Forsyth, M.A., LL.D., the inventor of the percussion lock for small arms, it was hoped that the work will be completed in time for the unveiling ceremony this month. Mr Forsyth was born on December 28, 17G8, at Belhe'vie, Aberdeenshire. He was educated at King’s College. Aberdeen, ordained at the ago of twenty-three, and appointed to tho parish church of his native town. Arms and implements of war generally appear to have fascinated Mr Forsyth. In 1830 ho produced a detonating powder, for tho secret of which it is said Napoleon offered him £20,000. But this he naturally refused, and following a series of successful experiments with detonating compounds, ho was Invited by Lord Moira. Master-general of the Ordnance, to work upon the production of percussion locks, and to carry out his efforts at the Tower.

After several years Mr Forsyth was successful, and .in 1807 had patenter! not only a percussion lock for small arms, but had also produced one for three-pounder guns. It seems, indeed, that he was too successful, for his achievement appears to have resulted in exhibitions of both envy and resentment, and some months later, while still experimenting at the Tower, the Earl of Chatham ordered him to leav<there. This was a severe blow to the young inventor, who thereupon returned to his ministerial duties in Scotland, and continued to work with the limited resources which were at his disposal there. In 1834 tests on his percussion lock resulted in the final approval cf the invention, and two years later an issue of the experimental arms was made to the Third Grenadier Guards and the First Coldstream Guards. Afterwards percussion rifles were generally adopted for use in the British Army, being first employed in action by the Second Battalion of the Borde' Regiment (55th), at Amoy in 1841. A year before this a petition wa'presented to Parliament asking tho Government to grant Mr Forsyth a gra tuity, but it was nob until October, 1843, four months after the sudden death of tho inventor, that approval was given tor a grant of £I,OOO, which sum was equally divided among his surviving relations. Major Charles Ffoulkes, Keeper of the Armoury at, the Tower, said recently:—“The more one look- into the history of this remarkable Scottish minister, the more one feels how much ho achieved in revolutionising small arms. He was also a remarkable man in other nays. For example, when the advantages of vaccination were first realised, he took it upon himself to vaccinate the whole of his parishioners. During the Peninsular Wars the French pirated the Forsyth lock wholesale, which resulted in the inventor taking action for infringement of his patent.” Major Ffoulkes related how, recently, at the Tower, he decided to open one of the little priming boxes that were used by Forsyth, and in it was found a quantity of the original powder. It is proposed, if funds permit, to institute a “Forsyth Medal” for com petition at' Bisley