Babington, Anthony (sh) and Bessemer, Sir Henry (sh)

Babington, Anthony (sh)

born October 1561, Dethick, Derbyshire, Eng.
died Sept. 20, 1586, London

English conspirator.

Raised secretly as a Catholic, Babington was joined by the priest John Ballard in the unsuccessful "Babington Plot" to assassinate Queen Elizabeth I and install her prisoner, Mary, Queen of Scots, on the English throne. The conspiracy included many Roman Catholics, and Philip II of Spain promised to provide immediate assistance after the assassination. Babington was imprisoned and executed after the interception of an exchange of letters with Mary explaining his plans. The letters were also used as evidence supporting the execution of Mary the following year.

Bessemer, Sir Henry (sh)

born Jan. 19, 1813, Charlton, Hertfordshire, Eng.
died March 15, 1898, London

British inventor and engineer.

Son of a metallurgist, he set up his own casting business at 17. At that time the only iron-based construction materials were cast iron and wrought iron. So-called steel was made by adding carbon to pure forms of wrought iron (see wootz); the resulting material was used almost entirely for cutting tools. During the Crimean War Bessemer worked to devise a stronger cast iron for cannon. The result was a process for the inexpensive production of large, slag-free ingots of steel as workable as any wrought iron. He eventually also discovered how to remove excess oxygen from the iron. The Bessemer process (1856) led to the development of the Bessemer converter. See also basic Bessemer process; R.F. Mushet; puddling process.

Bessemer, detail of an oil painting by Rudolf Lehmann; in the Iron and Steel Institute, London

Courtesy of The Iron and Steel Institute, London; photograph, The Science Museum, London

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