Benjamin Sikes

Bartholomew Sikes (died 1803) was an officer in the employ of HM Excise who in the late 18th century perfected a device by which the alcoholic content of a liquid can be measured.

In 1802 he presented his invention to a board of inquiry together with nine other competitors who included Mary Dicas of Liverpool whose hydrometer was the approved instrument by the American excise. Sikes' device was chosen over the other nine.

The success of the device caused his name to be immortalised in an act of Parliament: Sikes' Hydrometer Act 1816 (56 Geo. 3. c. 140). From 1816 until 1980 the hydrometer was the standard used in the UK to measure the alcohol proof of spirits, and from 1846 in Canadian law.