Secret Warriors
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Post-war: did not return to medical practice.
Member of Exec Committee of British Red Cross.
Co-wrote Official History – Medical Services: Surgery of the War (1922).
Knighted 1911. Created Baronet 1923.
Sir William Lawrence Bragg (1890–1971) Physicist
Born: Adelaide. Family moved back to England 1909.
Educ: St Peter’s College, Adelaide; Adelaide University at age fifteen, took a First in Mathematics (1905–8); Trinity College, Cambridge (1909–12).
1914: Fellow of Trinity College. 1915: awarded Nobel Prize with his father for work on using X-rays to identify the atomic structure of crystals. 1915: Lieut in Royal Horse Artillery. 1915–18: working on sound ranging for GHQ.
Post-war: 1919–37: Langworthy Prof of Physics at Manchester University, pioneering work on crystallography. 1937–8: Dir National Physical Laboratory. 1938–54: Prof of Physics and Dir Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge; oversaw a flowering of British science; under his leadership, James Watson and Francis Crick discovered the structure of DNA (1953). 1954–66: Dir of Davy-Faraday Laboratory, Royal Institution, London.
OBE 1918. FRS 1921. Knighted 1941.
John Buchan (1875–1940) Author and propagandist
Born: Perth, eldest son of Free Church of Scotland minister.
Educ: Hutcheson’s Grammar School, Glasgow (1888–92); Glasgow University (1892–5); Brasenose College, Oxford (1895–9).
Pre-war: wrote several novels, many set in Scotland, and much journalism; studied for the Bar (called 1901); assisted Alfred Milner in the reconstruction of South Africa after the Boer War (1901–3); worked for and became partner in Nelsons publishers.
1915–16: reporter at the Western Front. 1916–17: official press representative for GHQ and Lieut in Intelligence. Feb 1917: Dir of Dept of Information. March 1918: Dir of Intelligence at Min of Information under Beaverbrook [q.v.]. Dec 1918: dismantled the Min of Information.
Post-war: settled into rural life at Elsfield Manor near Oxford. 1927–35: MP for Scottish universities. 1935–40: Governor-General of Canada; visited Washington and was the first Briton to address Congress (1937).
Most famous of his books: Prester John (1910), The Thirty Nine Steps (1915), Greenmantle (1916), biographies of Sir Walter Raleigh (1911) and The Marquis of Montrose (1913, revised 1928), Nelson’s History of the War (24 vols, 1915–19), These for Remembrance (1919), Sir Walter Scott (1932).
Created Baron Tweedsmuir 1935.
Viscount Cherwell – see Frederick Lindemann
Alexander Denniston (1881–1961) Code breaker
Born: Greenock.
Educ: Bowdon College, Cheshire; universities of Bonn and Paris.
1906–14: teacher of foreign languages at Marchiston Castle School and then
Royal Naval College, Osborne, Isle of Wight. 1908: played hockey for
Scotland in London Olympic Games. 1914: one of first to join Room 40 in Admiralty because of linguistic skills; worked in Room 40 throughout war.
1919–42: remained in code breaking as head of Government Code and Cypher School, which in 1939 moved to Bletchley Park.
1939–42: achieved technical success in deciphering the German Enigma machine and recruited a new generation of mathematician code breakers to Bletchley Park, inc. Alan Turing and Gordon Welchman.
1942: retired from Bletchley Park but remained in intelligence to 1945.
Sir James Alfred Ewing (1855–1935) Engineer and cryptographer
Born: Dundee.
Educ: Dundee High School; University of Edinburgh (1871–8).
Pre-war: worked with Great Western Telegraph Company laying undersea cables in the south Atlantic. 1878: Prof Mechanical Engineering at Imperial University of Tokyo and worked on earthquakes. 1883: Prof Engineering at newly endowed University College of Dundee and worked on the effects of stress on metals. 1890: Prof Mechanism and Applied Mechanics at Cambridge, where he set up new laboratory and oversaw huge growth in the engineering school.
1903: Dir Naval Education in Admiralty, introduced programme of scientific and engineering training for naval officers.
1914: set up Room 40 to decipher German wireless intercepts.
1916: left to become Principal and Vice-Chancellor of Edinburgh University, supervised a period of immense growth with creation of 13 new chairs and several new depts.
1929: retired to Cambridge.
FRS 1887. Knighted 1911.
Sir John Ambrose Fleming (1849–1945) Electrical engineer and inventor
Born: Lancaster, son of a Congregational minister.
Educ: University College School, London; University College, London (1867–70); St John’s College, Cambridge (1877–80).
1870s: science teacher at various schools. 1882: consultant to the Edison Lighting Company, London, and involved in production of first electric light bulbs; helped to develop alternating current for power transmission. 1885: Prof of Electrical Technology at University College, London. 1899: scientific adviser to Marconi Company.
1904: invented the thermionic valve. 1904 onwards: lectured extensively on wireless telegraphy, telephony, mathematics and mechanics, many lectures for popular, working and not academic audiences.
1915: lectured on the importance of science in the war.
1926: retired to Sidmouth, Devon where his house had a basement laboratory.
FRS 1892. Knighted 1929.
Sir Harold Gillies (1882–1960) Plastic surgeon
Born: Dunedin, New Zealand, son of contractor.
Educ: Wanganui College, NZ; Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge; St Bartholomew’s Hospital, London, qualified 1906. Champion golfer.
1915: joined RAMC; set up specialist dept in facial surgery at Aldershot. 1917: unit moved to Queen’s Hospital, Sidcup. Pioneered development of plastic surgery and facial reconstruction.
Post-war: set up private practice in plastic surgery; pioneered cosmetic surgery for the wealthy; became plastic surgeon at St Bartholomew’s Hospital, London; continued with reconstruction work on deformities cause by terrible accidents.
WW2: with his cousin, Archibald Mclndoe, trained more plastic surgeons and treated wounded at Rooksdown House, Basingstoke; Mclndoe worked at Queen Victoria Hospital, East Grinstead, and his patients formed the ‘Guinea Pig’ club.
Post-WW2: pioneered sexual reassignment surgery.
CBE 1920. Knighted 1930. First Pres of British Association of Plastic Surgeons 1946.
Nigel de Grey (1886–1951) Publisher and code breaker
Born: Copdock, Suffolk, son of the rector. Aristocratic parents.
Educ: Eton.
1907: failed language exam to join Foreign Office and joined publishers William Heinemann; joined Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve.
1914: posted to Belgium. 1915: joined the code breaking team in Room 40.
1917: deciphered the Zimmerman Telegram with Rev. William Montgomery.
Post-war: ran the Medici Society specialising in publishing prints of Old Masters.
1939: started work at Bletchley Park code breaking centre. 1941: picked up first evidence of genocide against the Jews in the occupied Soviet Union, passing reports on to Churchill.
1945: deputy director of GCHQ, intercepting Soviet cables.
John Scott Haldane (1860–1936) Physiologist
Born: Edinburgh into a Scottish aristocratic family; younger brother of Richard Burdon Haldane, reforming Secretary of State for War (1906–10).
Educ: Edinburgh Academy and Edinburgh University (1876–9).
Pre-war: career in medical research specialising in analysis of foul air in schools and slums, and of poisonous gases in coal mines; devoted much time to improving industrial health and the ventilation of factories, workshops and mines. 1887–1913: member of Physiology Dept Oxford University and Fellow of New College.
1914–18: member of RS War Committee. 1915: consulted by Kitchener on the best form of respiratory masks for protection from poison g
ases; advised on medical aspects of gas poisoning.
Post-war: continued with work in industrial welfare. 1921: member of Safety in Mines Research Board; lectured widely on science of industrial diseases.
FRS 1897.
Hugh Hamshaw-Thomas (1885–1962) Palaeo-botanist and photo interpreter
Born: Wrexham, Denbighshire, son of a gentleman’s outfitter.
Educ: Grove Park, Wrexham; Downing College, Cambridge.
Pre-war: researched fossil plants, inc. shale plants from the north of England.
1914: volunteered for the army and joined the artillery. 1916: transferred to the RFC. 1917–18: worked on mapping Egypt, Palestine and Syria from aerial photos.
Post-war: sent to India to consider an aerial survey of the country; returned to Downing College and continued to research and publish in palaeobotany.
WW2: went back to aerial photography at RAF Medmenham and became a specialist in interpreting photos of German industry.
Post-WW2: returned to Cambridge and the broader study of botany.
MBE 1918. FRS 1934.
Sir Frederick Handley Page (1885–1962) Aircraft designer and manufacturer
Born: Cheltenham, son of a master upholsterer.
Educ: Cheltenham Grammar School; Finsbury Technical College.
1906: chief electrical designer at Johnson & Phillips engineers, Charlton. 1908: sacked for spending too much time on aviation experiments. 1909: founded Handley Page Ltd to build aeroplanes but only established when contracted by the War Office to produce versions of official designs.
1914: built first twin-engined bomber for Royal Naval Air Service. 1918: built a four-engined bomber to bomb Berlin.
Post-war: 1919: turned to passenger aviation. 1924: part of consortium that founded Imperial Airways. Produced several long-range passenger aircraft.
1940: Handley Page Co produced the four-engined Halifax bomber.
Post-WW2: 1946: helped to establish College of Aeronautics at Cranfield. Handley Page designers produced the Hermes airliner and the Victor bomber. Refused to accept government pressure to merge with other aviation companies to create a stronger, consolidated aviation industry.
CBE 1918. Knighted 1942. Pres RAS 1945–7.
Edward Harrison (1869–1918) Chemist
Born: Camberwell, London.
Educ: United Westminster Schools; apprenticed to pharmaceutical chemist.
Pre-war: pharmacist in Croydon; industrial chemist and researcher; carried out analysis for BMA of medicines to prevent deception of public by quacks and published Secret Remedies (1909).
1915: joined Royal Fusiliers as a private; transferred to chemists’ corps of Royal Engineers to research anti-gas measures; designed new form of respirator to give protection from range of different gases with lime permanganate capsules developed with Bertram Lambert at Oxford. 1917–18: assistant then controller of Chemical Warfare Dept of Min Munitions responsible for anti-gas section.
Nov 1918: succumbed to Spanish influenza epidemic and died one week before Armistice.
FRCS 1894.
Sir James Headlam-Morley (1863–1929) Historian of Germany
Born: Barnard Castle, Co Durham, vicar’s son.
Educ: Eton; Kings College, Cambridge (1883–7); Gottingen and Berlin, Germany.
Pre-war: historian of Germany and author of Bismarck and the Foundation of the German Empire (1899). 1902: joined Board of Education as school inspector.
1914–17: joined Charles Masterman [q.v.] at Wellington House; wrote many pamphlets on different aspects of the war and Germany’s guilt.
1918: Min of Information worked with H.G. Wells on propaganda directed against Germany and German troops.
1919: acted as liaison between PM Lloyd George and the Foreign Office at Versailles Peace Conference.
1920: historical adviser to Foreign Office, collator of documents relating to the war; founder of Royal Inst of International Affairs (Chatham House).
Knighted 1929.
Sir Frank Heath (1863–1946) Educationalist and scientific administrator
Born: London, eldest son of portrait painter.
Educ: Westminster School; University College, London; University of Strasbourg.
1890: Prof of English at Bedford College and King’s College, London; 1895: Librarian, London University; 1901: Registrar, London University.
1902: Board of Education, director of special inquiries. 1910: joined new branch of Education Board to allocate funding across the growing university sector, out of his reforms came the University Grants Committee in 1919.
1915: helped design new tin helmet for soldiers and suggested creation of a new group to co-ordinate government funding for scientific research needed for war. 1916: first permanent secretary of new Dept of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR).
1925–7: helped set up similar DSIRs in Australia and New Zealand.
1927: retired and Henry Tizard (q.v.) took over DSIR.
1929: secretary Universities Bureau of the British Empire; 1931: governor of Imperial College, London.
Knighted 1917.
Archibald Vivian Hill (1886–1977) Physiologist and founder of Operational Research
Born: Bristol, only son of a timber merchant.
Educ: Blundell’s School, Tiverton; Trinity College, Cambridge, reading maths and natural sciences (1905–9).
1910: Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, and researcher in the Cambridge Physiological Laboratory; investigated energy used by nerves and muscles; emphasised the mathematical and quantitative assessment of his research; helped create the science of biophysics.
1914: joined up and became capt in the Cambridgeshire Regt; directed an antiaircraft experimental station as part of the Min of Munitions to provide mathematical and quantitative assessment of anti-aircraft fire; helped to establish what was later called operational research.
1920: Prof of Physiology, Manchester University. 1922: Nobel Prize for his research on muscles. 1923: Prof at University College, London.
1935: member of the Tizard [q.v.] Committee that led to the introduction of radar.
1940–5: independent MP for Cambridge University; member of 1940 Tizard Mission to USA; 1943–4 mission to India to advise on reconstruction.
1951: retired but kept up voluntary work on many scientific societies.
FRS 1918.
Sir Gordon Holmes (1876–1965) Surgeon and brain specialist
Educ: Dundalk Educational Institute; Trinity College, Dublin.
1901: National Hospital for Nervous Diseases, Queen Square, London; carried out pioneering work on the functioning of the brain.
1917: took over from Charles Myers as leading psychologist to the British Army in France.
Post-war: wrote extensively; editor of the influential journal Brain (1922–37); taught widely. Was bombed out from his home in Wimpole Street in
1940 and retired the following year.
FRS 1933. Knighted 1951.
Bertram Hopkinson (1874–1918) Mechanical and aeronautical engineer
Born: Woodlea, Birmingham, the son of engineer John Hopkinson.
Educ: St Paul’s School, London; Trinity College, Cambridge (1893–6).
Pre-war: successful research engineer; elected to chair in Mechanism and Applied Mechanics at Cambridge in 1903 aged only twenty-nine, taking over from J.A. Ewing (q.v.); did pioneering work on metal fatigue, the magnetic properties of iron, the effects of explosions and the development of internal combustion engines.
1914: commissioned in the Royal Engineers, helped to develop bombs to be dropped from aircraft; 1915: head of Dept of Military Aeronautics supplying new aircraft with armaments; Secretary of RS committee advising government on scientific problems of the war. 1917: Established an experimental flying station at Orford Ness and Martlesham Heath with Henry Tizard (q.v.). August 1918: killed in an air crash while planning to set up a school of aeronautical engineering post-war. FRS 1910.
Sir Arthur Hurst (1879–1944) Psychol
ogist and physician
Born: Bradford. Original surname Hertz; his father’s cousin was Heinrich Hertz, the discoverer of radio waves. Name changed by deed poll in 1916.
Educ: Bradford and Manchester grammar schools; Magdalen College, Oxford; Guy’s Hospital, London; studied at Munich, Paris and USA; qualified 1907.
1909: assistant physician, Guy’s Hospital with responsibility for neurological dept.
1916: in charge of neurological section at Netley Military Hospital. 1918–19 worked at Seale Hayne Hospital, Devon, as specialist in removing the symptoms of hysteria. Some of his cases were filmed before and after treatment.
Post-war: returned to Guy’s and worked on the alimentary tract and on gastroenterology; founded New Lodge Clinic, Windsor.
WW2: taught at Oxford.
Pres Royal Society of Medicine 1927–9. Knighted 1937.
Sir Roderick Jones (1877–1962) Director of Reuters News Agency
Born: Dunkinfield, Cheshire, of poor family.
Educ: Parents could not afford a top school or university so taught by grandfather at home.
1894: reporter in Pretoria, South Africa. 1902: joined Reuters news agency, London. 1905: Reuters regional manager, South Africa.
1915: recalled to London to take charge on suicide of Baron de Reuter. 1916: restructured Reuters with covert government backing; gave support to British propaganda output, including Agence Service Reuter in English and French to neutral countries. 1917–18: worked at Dept and Min of Information as head of news division.
Post-war: increasingly autocratic style at Reuters alienated many. 1930: acquired the Press Association, making a personal fortune out of the deal; began to lose confidence of the board and of the British government. 1941: forced to resign.