Henry Bessemer (1813-1898), British industrialist. Bessemer was the inventor of the Bessemer process for making steel. He developed this process between 1850 and 1855, and it made him a wealthy man. He was knighted in 1879. This image is from a photograph by Elliot and Fry, London. It was published in 'The Epic of Industry' (1926), volume 5 of 'The Pageant of America: A Pictorial History of the United States'. This was a 15-volume series that commemorated 150 years since the founding of the USA in 1776.