Alexander Parkes (December 29 1813 - June 29 1890 was a metallurgist and inventor from Birmingham, England. He developed the first form of celluloid.
The son of a brass lock manufacturer, Parkes was apprenticed to a brass founder at Messenger and Sons before going to work for George amd Henry Elkington, who patented the electroplating process. Parkes was put in charge of the casting department, and his attention soon began to focus on electroplating, a recently discovered process. Parkes took out his first patent (No. 8005) in 1841 on a process for electroplating delicate works of art. His improved method for electroplating fine and fragile objects, such as flowers, was granted a patent in 1843. In total he held 66 patents on processes and products related to electroplating and plastic development.
In 1856 he developed parkesine - the first thermoplastic - a celluloid derived from treating cellulose with nitric acid and ethanol. The material was not a commercial success as it was expensive to produce and prone to cracking. Parkes lost a lot of his own money trying to develop it commercially, but his invention went on to form the basis of the celluloid developed by John Wesley Hyatt in the U.S. in 1870.