Robert Porrett

Robert Porrett (1783–1868) was an English amateur chemist and antiquary.

The son of Robert Porrett, ordnance storekeeper at the Tower of London, he was born in London on 22 September 1783. He began work in his father's department as an assistant. He was appointed in 1795, promoted later to be chief of his department, and retired on a pension in 1850, when his services received official acknowledgment. He died on 25 November 1868, unmarried. Robert Collier, 1st Baron Monkswell was his nephew.

Porrett was elected Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London on 9 January 1840, and Fellow of the Royal Society in 1848. He was an original fellow of the Chemical Society, and also a fellow of the Astronomical Society. He was an authority on armour, on which he contributed several papers to Archæologia and the Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries. His subordinate at the Tower, John Hewitt, was encouraged to take an interest in the national collection of arms and armour there, and produced a pioneering guide.

In chemistry, towards the end of 1808, Porret found that by treating prussic acid with sulphuretted hydrogen a new acid was formed, which he first termed prussous acid. For this investigation he was awarded a medal by the Society of Arts. In 1814 he discovered the qualitative composition of the acid, and showed that it was formed by the union of prussic acid and sulphur, and termed it "sulphuretted chyazic acid". The later name "sulpho-cyanic acid" was given by Thomas Thomson,and its quantitative composition was determined in 1820 by Berzelius.

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