Chemical Research Department

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Formed in 1907

With the addition of the laboratories of the Chemist to the War Department - a post created in 1854.
No separate establishments existed specifically to do research, design and development. Nevertheless, from the earliest days, epoch making advances were made, such as the transition from solid round shot fired from a muzzle loader to the explosive filled shell fired from a breech-loading gun, the replacement of gunpowder by cordite as the propellant and the early 19th Century experiments with artillery rockets. 

With the increase in activity in the armament world, the growing complexity of weapons and in particular the serious faults in the ammunition used by the British Army on the Boer War led to the establishment of the Chemical Research Department, Woolwich in 1907. This organisation was the first in the country to be entirely devoted to armament research; it covered explosives and pyrotechnics, propellants, ballistics and materials for armaments. It was the direct and recognisable fore-runner of the Armament Research Establishment.

In 1915, the engineering design and development of weapons was concentrated progressively into a separate department but the unified Armament Design Establishment began to assume its final shape in 1922 when the design facilities of the three factories at Woolwich ( the Royal Gun Factory, The Royal Carriage Department and the Royal Laboratory) and one at Enfield were amalgamated into the Design Department. 


updated ...
2013.02.08