Gas Masks

by Frank Gardner

The British Army, like other armies, was not equipped with gas masks at the beginning of the war so that when the Germans first used gas in April 1915, all that the British troops could do was to hold handkerchiefs, towels and cotton bandoliers wetted with water or any liquid available in the trenches over their mouths. This, of course, made breathing difficult and the temptation to tear off the damp rags strong.

Various kinds of 'respirators' as gas masks were officially called, were improvised locally from whatever material was available. The War Office also started to procure 'official' respirators: some were made by the trade but a very large number were also made by women working at home. It was May before all troops could be supplied with these gas masks. All these early types consisted of pads of various materials soaked in different solutions to be secured in some way over the nose and moth. Even the best of these provided oily limited protection.

In May production of a 'smoke helmet' commenced--distribution began in June and by 6 July the whole army had been equipped. It consisted of a flannel bag with celluloid window, impregnated with a suitable solution. When worn the ends were tucked inside the tunic collar to ensure air tightness It was officially called the hypo helmet. An improved version, the 'P' (for phenate the chemical with which the helmet was impregnated) came into use in November. It was sometimes referred to as the tube helmet. It was made of two layers of flannel instead of one, glass eye pieces were substituted for the celluloid window, and an outlet valve fitted. In 1916 the PH (phenate-hexamine) helmet was intros med to give protection against phosgene gas. Helmets offered the best protection yet but the troops found it very difficult to work and fight in them. In fact it is reported that at Loos some assaulting troops removed them even when advancing through the British gas

Between August and November 1916 the 'small box respirator (SBR) was issued, With improvements, it remained in service for the rest of the war and was undoubtedly the best respirator (or gas mask) possessed by any Allied or enemy army. It consisted of a face mask of waterproof fabric with glass eye pieces and contained a nose clip and a mouth piece attached by a rubber tube to the filter box carried in a haversack on the chest (when in the 'gas alert' position).

Early in 1918 the Government started to consider how to protect the civil population from gas attacks but nothing much seems to have come of it. However, in some areas at least, the public were advised to make themselves masks as a precaution. These would, it was suggested, consist of a gauze wallet filled with cotton waste which, in case of need, would be soaked in a strong solution of washing soda and placed over the nose and mouth. There were also commercially produced pad-type masks on sale to the public. Whether either the home-made or purchased models would have offered much protection is, perhaps, debatable even if the owners had known when and how to put them on.

The Reason Why

by J.P Lethbridge

On 14 February 1916 William Fownes Rigden, his brother Stanley Fownes Rigden, and their father William Gardiner Rigden, were tried at the Old Bailey for trading with the enemy. Their firm, glove makers Fownes Brothers of London and Worcester, had a New York branch. With their written approval it had imported German goods worth more than six thousand pounds, distributed them in America and sent the invoices to London.

William Rigden got a year in gaol and Stanley Rigden four months. Their father who allegedly left running the business to them, was fined five hundred pounds. They had given the Germans money that would buy military material to kill British troops. Their sentences were

actually heavier than earlier sentences on traders with the enemy who had merely been fined.

Reginald Clifford Allen, known as Clifford Allen, was born in 1889 at Newport, Monmouthshire. His father was a draper. Clifford studied at Cambridge intending to become an Anglican clergyman but while there he converted to socialism and atheism. After graduating in 1911 he joined the Independent Labour Party and became a socialist journalist. He strongly opposed the First World War He became Chairman of the No Conscription Fellowship (NCF). It first campaigned against the introduction of conscription and then, after it came in anyway, supported conscientious objectors.

Clifford Allen had TB and could have got a medical exemption but instead alleged that his work as NCF Chairman was of vital national importance. He refused to accept non-combatant duties, was arrested in August 1916, and tried by court martial. After twice being released on health grounds, he was sentenced to two years hard labour. His health worsened and he was freed in December 1917.

After the war Clifford Allen drifted to the right eventually supporting Ramsey MacDonald when he split with the Labour Party and allied to the Conservatives and liberals to form a National Government in 1931. Clifford Allen was raised to the peerage in 1932 as Baron Allen of Hurtwood. He remained a pacifist eventually supporting the Munich agreement. He died of TB in a Swiss sanatorium in March 1939 aged fifty-one. He was married with one daughter. As he had no sons his title died with him.

Thus two scoundrels got away with short sentences while a well meaning but naive man with TB got hard labour. Later the same government which gave him a peerage ruled that under the means test unemployed VC winners would have their ten pounds a year VC allowance decocted from their dole. No wonder so many people were disillusioned!

THE RUSSIANS WERE (NOT) COMING

by Bob Butcher

On 8 September 1914 Michael MacDonagh of The Times no less, recorded in his diary:

'There is being circulated everywhere a story that an immense force of Russian soldiers--little short of a million, it is said--have passed, or are still passing, through England on their way to France. They are being brought from Archangel–just in time before that port was closed by ice--landed at Leith, and carried at night in hundreds of trains straight to ports on the south coast. This great news is vouched by people likely to be well informed, but iti s being kept secret by the authorities--not a word about it is allowed in the newspapers--until all the Russians have arrived at the Western Front. It is said in confirmation that belated wayfarers at railway stations throughout the country saw long train after long train running through with blinds down, but still allowing glimpses of carriages packed with fierce looking bearded fellows in fur hats.

What a surprise is in store for the Germans when they find themselves faced on the west with hordes of Russians, while other hordes are pressing on them from the east.'

NB: Other witnesses knew that the men were Russian because they still had snow on their boots.

 

Neither were the Germans

On 22 October 1914 Mrs Georgina Lee noted in her diary that when the police raided the premises of Roder's, German music publishers, at Willesden, they found that the warehouse had a solid concrete floor six feet thick and an armoured roof ready to take guns. The position commanded a view of Crystal Palace!

 

Did you Know...

That the original BEF took 334 guns and howitzers of three calibres but no mortars to France.

At the end of the war it had 7608 artillery 'pieces' of various calibres and 2519 mortars of various kinds. It also had 15,321,521 rounds of ammunition for the artillery and 694,575 mortar bombs. (Don't ask me how such precise figures for ammunition were arrived at!).

Appeal from the Editor:

Have you any ideas for a subject That I might be able to research and make into an item for BRUM RATION ? I’ve almost run out of ideas..

The Bulletin of the Birmingham Branch of the WFA

Compiled by Bob Butcher

August 2008