SILBERRAD, Oswald(1878-1960)

Worker

Oswald Silberrad,

born: 1878 at Buckhurst Hill, Essex

died: 17 June 1960

buried at the parish church in Loughton.

studied chemistry at the City and Guilds Technical College.

1898-1900 he attended the University of Würzburg.

1901-1906 superintendent of research, Royal Arsenal, Woolwich,

younger brother of the writer Una Lucy Silberrad.

Simon Coleman National Cataloguing Unit for the Archives of Contemporary Scientists (University of Bath) ...

The paper resulted from the speaker's work at the National Cataloguing Unit for the Archives of Contemporary Scientists, Bath, on the archive of this little-known industrial consulting chemist and the research laboratory that he founded. The paper highlighted some of Silberrad's important contributions to munitions research at the Royal Arsenal while he was still in his early twenties. An experimenter of rare ability, Silberrad discovered a new means of detonating high explosive shells by using a substance known as 'tetryl'.

He also demonstrated that TNT worked well as a high explosive shell filling, possessing advantages over the lyddite then in use. ---Royal Navy ordnance,a practice that was already well known in Germany.

Successfully developed and tested a 'flameless' artillery propellant for small calibre guns. The archive contains part of Silberrad's unpublished memoirs, which document this period of his career, in particular his difficult relations with the War Office which resulted in his resignation as Superintendent of Research.

The Silberrad Papers are held by the Science Museum- Library".2014.08.29 Greenwich Industrial History

　

1901 appointed chemist to the Government Explosives committee. Later he took the position as head of the committee’s research institute at Woolwich.

This committee had been set up after the Boer War to investigate the shortcomings of British explosives.

　

1904 lived ...

Hill Top, Shrewsbury Lane, Plumstead

1906 he left the institute, and in 1907 founded the Silberrad Research Laboratories, first at 22 Stag Lane, Buckhurst Hill, and later moved to Loughton, where he had a special laboratory block added to his new house. As a consulting chemist, he mainly focused on the study of explosives. He also developed a new alloy, solving the problem of the erosion of warships' bronze propellers. In 1921 he campaigned unsuccessfully for a position at the Royal Society.

1960 lived ...

Dryad's Hall,

2014-09-23