Chemical Warfare Committee

Not all the early scientists survived. Colonel Watson, head of the Allies Central Laboratory in France, died as a result of experiments he had conducted on himself. So too, in the final days of the war, did Colonel Harrison, Deputy Controller of the British Chemical Warfare Committee. Many more must have appreciably shortened their lives by their work. Risks were taken, runs Porton s internal history, and sufferings were endured in a manner which was only possible by men of high morale under the urge of war. ... 

Haldane JS. The reflex restriction of respiration after gas poisoning. In Reports of the Chemical Warfare Committee, Medical Research Committee. London, England Chemical Warfare Department, Army Medical Service 1918 3-4. 

Thirdly, the Protocol provided a perfect cloak for deferring any action on civil defence against gas attack. The Chemical Warfare Committee repeatedly urged that this issue should be considered, and that a political initiative should be taken. Neither Conservative nor... 

A Summary of Important Notes and Papers in connection with the Policy of gas warfare in order of dates from 1899 and Second Report of the Secretary of the Chemical Warfare Committee , 31 March 1922, p. 7, PRO, WO 188/212 and WO 33/1014. 

WO 188/144. See also First Report of the Secretary of the Chemical Warfare Committee, 31 March 1921, PRO, WO 33/987B. 

Annual Cricket Match between Porton staff and die Chairmen of the various subcommittees serving the Chemical Warfare Committee, c. 1929. The besuited gendeman in the middle of the front row is the physiologist Joseph Barcroft. 

Close liaison between Porton s scientists and expert networks elsewhere in Britain and overseas, essential in maintaining a first-class research facility, was to be assured through the Chemical Warfare Committee, which was broadly representative of the wider scientific, military, and business community. To ensure the coordinated production of toxic agents, including those for testing purposes at Porton, the committee recommended the creation of a state-controlled factory for chemical warfare products at Sutton Oak, near St Helens in Lancashire, which later became the Chemical Defence Research Establishment. A representative of Porton liaised with members of the committee about planned field trials. It was this coordinated approach to chemical warfare through an external body of experts and stakeholders that other nations, the United States and Canada especially, began to emulate. 

Around 1922, the Chemical Warfare Committee applied to the Army Council for permission to allow service personnel stationed at Porton to volunteer for special tests involving deliberate exposure to toxic substances. Pending a full report detailing the nature and safety precautions m place for... 

In another instance, the Secretary of the Chemical Warfare Committee and subsequently Controller, Chemical Warfare Research Department, Captain James Davidson Pratt (see Image 7), who came to play a highly influential and long-term role in Britain s chemical warfare prc ramme, gave Atkisson one of the Royal Navy s gas masks, with the proviso that no one is to know that we have received it, not even the War Office or the Admiralty . In summing up the arrangement,Atkisson remarked ... 

J. Davidson Pratt, Esq, OBE, MA, BSc, FIC Assistant Secretary of the Chemical Advisory and Chemical Warfare Committees, i August 1916—31 December 1918 Secretary, Chemical Warfare Committee Controller, Chemical Warfare Committee, i January 1919—30 June 1923 Controller, Chemical Warfare Research Department, i July 1923—31 December 1925 Chief Superintendent, Chemical Warfare Research Department, i January 1926—30 September 1928. Davidson Pratt was later promoted to Controller, Chemical Defence Development, in the MoS. 

Subordinated to the Chemical Warfare Department, Porton shared responsibility for chemical warfare research with a number of supervisory committees and organizations, including the Chemical Warfare Committee and university research facilities. 

The strategic planning question was to be answered through the co-ordination of the Pacific area plans by the United States Chemical Warfare Committee. In General Porter s opinion the CWS would have been ready for gas warfare in the Pacific had it broken out in 1944 or 1945 No new duties were indicated for the CWS POA by the strategic plans. Unmacht continued his emphasis on gas warfare... 

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