A Strange and Formidable Weapon: British Responses to World War I Poison Gas

Acknowledgments

Acknowledgments This book is possible only because of help from many people and institutions, too many to list individually. Thank you to all of you for your generous help and advice. In particular, I would like to thank my advisers, Paul Kennedy, Jay Winter, and John Harley Warner, who guided me though the dissertation upon which this book is based. Peter Stanksy, my undergraduate mentor, has allowed me to ask questions throughout the entire writing process. My colleagues , at the University of New Hampshire, at conferences, and at talks, have also offered support and asked questions that have encouraged me to examine the material in new ways, especially Jeff Diefendorf, Janet Polasky, Funso Afolayan, and Bill Harris. My department and college provided moral and financial support. Research assistants and computer experts Mandy Chalou, Lisa Kelly, and John Green were wonderful, as was everyone at the University of Nebraska Press. Thank you all. Archivists and librarians at the Yale University Libraries, especially the History of Medicine, the Medical, Mudd, and Sterling Libraries, all provided invaluable help, as did the staff at the Dimond Library at the University of New Hampshire. The Baker-Berry and Rauner Special Collections Libraries at Dartmouth College offered courtesies that I very much appreciated. In London, the British Library (both at the St. Pancras and the Colindale branches); the House of Lords Record Office; the Imperial War Museum Art Department (particularly Michael Moody); the Imperial War Museum Document Collection and Library; the Imperial War Museum Photograph Archive; the Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives at King’s College, London; the National Army Museum; the Royal Society; the Royal Society for Chemistry; and the Wellcome Library for the History and Understanding of Medicine allowed me to visit and delve into records repeatedly. My deepest thanks are due to the staff at The National Archives at Kew where I did most of my research. Marcelle Adamson at the Illustrated London News Picture Library and Andre Gailani at Punch assisted with illustrations. Outside of London, the Brotherton Library at the University of Leeds; the Cheshire Record Centre; and the Churchill Archives Centre at Churchill College, Cambridge University, provided valuable assistance. Other archives x | Acknowledgments in the United States that allowed me to visit include the Chemical Heritage Foundation, the United States Army Military History Institute, the Library of Congress, and the National Archives in College Park. The Art Archive also provided help with illustrations. The financial assistance I received throughout this project has been invaluable . Yale University provided University Fellowships and the University Dissertation Fellowship that provided the majority of the support for my research. Other organizations also contributed to make my travels and writing possible: Smith Richardson Pre-Dissertation and Research Grants, awarded by International Security Studies at Yale; an Andrew Mellon Research Grant and History Department Alumni Funding from the History Department at Yale; a Paul Mellon Traveling and Research Grant from the Yale Center for British Art; a Chemical Heritage Foundation Travel Grant from the Chemical Heritage Foundation; grants from the Rutman and Signal Funds awarded by the History Department at the University of New Hampshire; and an Alumni Gift Fund grant given by the College of Liberal Arts at the University of New Hampshire. Several organizations allowed me to present my ideas about chemical warfare at seminars or conferences where participants offered comments that inspired further thought. These include the Chemical Heritage Foundation, the History of Science Society (which also provided a National Science Foundation Travel Grant), the Northeast Conference on British Studies, the Ohio Valley History/Society of Military History Conference, the American Historical Association, and the Society of Military History. Winston Churchill inspired the title with a comment that captured many of the components of gas warfare. On April , , he discussed the reorganization of the chemical warfare group within the Ministry of Munitions, explaining to his fellow members of Parliament in the House of Commons that “chemical warfare in all its strange and formidable forms must be expanded on an ever-increasing scale.”1 The use and types of poison gas were indeed frequently proven and perceived to be unusual, varied, and fearsome before, during, and after World War I in Britain. Finally, and most important, thank you to family and friends who talked with me about ideas, recommended sources, helped me edit, and offered support —again and again and again—Kurk most of all. A Strange and Formidable Weapon ...