P. Gerald (Percy Gerald) Sanford

Writing as P. Gerald Sanford, Percy Gerald Sanford is known for Nitro-Explosives: A Practical Treatise, a scientific work from the late 19th and early 20th century that focuses on the properties, manufacture, and analysis of nitrated substances, including smokeless powders and related materials.

The book itself presents him as a Fellow of the Institute of Chemistry and a Fellow of the Chemical Society. It also describes him as Public Analyst to the Borough of Penzance, and notes earlier work as a consulting chemist to the Cotton Powder Company and as resident chemist at explosives works in Stowmarket and Hayle.

Reliable biographical detail about his personal life appears to be limited in the sources that are easy to confirm online, so most of what survives publicly centers on his professional expertise. Even so, his writing stands out as a useful snapshot of applied chemistry and industrial practice in the age when modern explosives technology was rapidly developing.