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MoD Materials Quality Assurance Directorate

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MoD Materials Quality Assurance Directorate 
Bruce Blissett

Introduction. 
In November 1966 I joined the General Chemicals Laboratory in MQAD as an industrial analytical chemist experienced in the quality control of a wide variety of materials and chemical products.  The General Chemicals Laboratory was one of a group of laboratories on Frog Island forming the then named Directorate of Chemical Inspection.  This paper gives a very brief history of the Royal Arsenal, the Directorate and an outline of just some of the work undertaken in the General Chemicals Laboratory.

The Origins of the Royal Arsenal, Woolwich.
The launch of the ship Henri Grace ã  Dieu in October 1515, marked the beginning of the Royal Dockyard at Woolwich which was so important in the founding of King Henry VIII's navy.  A rope yard serving the dockyard was built between 1573 and 1576 by the builder Thomas Allen and was situated on land adjacent to the present day Beresford Street.  Thomas Allen also erected a store house close to the Thames shore and Bell Water Gate.  There was also a slipway, wharf, warehouse and gunyard where ordnance from ships could be housed while awaiting reallocation.

During the conflict with the Dutch, the storehouse on the gunwharf was found to be too small and in 1671, the Crown bought an old manor house named Tower House (later named Tower Place) and its associated land in order to accommodate a store keeper and to build a powder house and store for saltpetre (potassium nitrate).  The purchase of Tower Place together with 31 acres of land for use as an ordnance storage depot really marks the beginning of what was to become the Royal Arsenal.  The Royal Arsenal expanded in a piecemeal fashion until in 1907 it was 3 miles long and up to 1 mile wide.

A Brief History of the Directorate.
During the seventeenth century, the office of the Ordnance Chemist was established which, in the latter part of its existence, served in the Royal Arsenal until it was abolished in 1826.  Following the discovery of guncotton (nitrocellulose) and nitro-glycerine in the 1840s however,  the need was felt in the War Office for the expertise of a chemist and in 1854, a young man named Frederick Abel who, two years earlier had succeeded Michael Faraday as Professor of Chemistry at the Royal Military Academy at Woolwich, was recruited into the post of Ordnance Chemist.  The title Ordnance Chemist was later changed to War Department Chemist.

The War Department Chemist was responsible for the inspection of an extraordinary range of materials including gunmetal, saddlery, hay and 'energetic materials' such as gunpowder,.  Frederick Abel (later Sir Frederick Abel) was noted for his major role in the development of cordite (a mixture of nitro-glycerine and nitrocellulose) as a propellant for ammunition.  He devised a heat stability test for explosives which, to my knowledge, is still in use today and Abel's flash point apparatus fortesting the flammability of flammable liquids such as petroleum products.  Abel's flash point test using apparatus to his original design remains the reference method for testing low flash point fuels to the British IP (Institute of Petroleum) and American ASTM test methods.  In 1888, Sir Frederick Abel GCVO, KCB was succeeded by Dr. W. Kellner. In 1904, a separate Chemical Research Department was created and in 1909, the War Department Chemist became part of the Armament Inspection Department under the new title Chemist, Inspection Department. At the start of the First World War, the department had only 12 staff but this number needed to be increased to more than 150 with new laboratories opening in other parts of the country.  The range of materials for which the department was responsible also greatly increased due largely to the advent of chemical warfare.  In 1917, the title Chemist, Inspection Department was again changed to Directorate of Chemical Inspection and was changed yet again to War Department Chemist in 1920.  The rearmament programme of 1935 led to the recruitment of more staff at Woolwich and after more than 80 years service, the laboratory block (Building 20), still largely to the original design of Sir Frederick Abel was considered inadequate and new laboratories were built on Frog Island where the Arsenal canal once formed a loop.  There they remained until 1971 when the buildings were evacuated to allow the land to be handed over to the Greater London Council.  The laboratories were finally housed in a badly designed and cheaply built modern laboratory block.

In 1939, the department's name was changed to Chief Chemical Inspectorate and during the Second World War staff numbers exceeded 1600. 1952 saw yet another name change to Director of Chemical Inspection or Chemical Inspection Directorate (CID).  Gales of laughter would often be heard at the other end of a telephone line if someone answered, "Hello, this is the CID!".  The never-ending title changes continued, for in 1970, we became known as the Quality Assurance Directorate (Materials), abbreviated to QAD/Mats.  This title was considered too easily confused with that of our sister department; Quality Assurance Directorate (Ordnance), abbreviated to QAD/Ord and in 1972 we were renamed Materials Quality Assurance Directorate, abbreviated to MQAD.

MQAD provided technical expertise and quality assurance of material supplies for the army, navy and air force.  It had a chief director and three assistant directors.  Each assistant director headed a division and these were: E (explosives), P (polymers) and G (general).  Each division was sub-divided into branches so that E division had two branches covering explosives and propellants while P division had branches covering papers, rubbers, plastics materials, paints and adhesives.  The General Division had branches covering metals, petrol, oils and lubricants, and general chemicals which was the branch and laboratory in which I worked.  There were also the Analytical Development laboratories which assessed new analytical techniques and a Central Packaging Unit situated in Plumstead.

The General Chemicals Laboratory, like Sir Frederick Abel's original laboratory, was responsible for analysing or otherwise testing an enormous range of materials.  More than one thousand different items were covered including various leathers, insecticides, pesticides, insect repellents, desiccants, sealants (lutings), bleaching powder, camouflage cream, soap, detergents, disinfectants, inks, corrosion inhibitors, derusting solutions, anodizing solutions, plating solutions, solder fluxes, degreasing compounds, ullage and water finding pastes, abrasive blasting grits, shell linings, respirator filters, organic and inorganic wood preservatives, polishes, wax and edible candles, aircraft thrust augmentation fluids, runway de-icing fluids, solvents and pure chemicals.  Samples for chemical analysis from the other branches of MQAD would also be tested and the laboratory provided a free analytical service for the whole of the MoD. (to be continued)

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