Colonel Sir Frederic Lewis Nathan, KBE, (1861–1933) was a

chemical engineer A chemical engineer is a professional equipped with the knowledge of chemistry and other basic sciences who works principally in the chemical industry to convert basic raw materials into a variety of Product (chemistry), products and deals with ...

who played a major part in the supply of

munitions Ammunition, also known as ammo, is the material fired, scattered, dropped, or detonated from any weapon or weapon system. The term includes both expendable weapons (e.g., bombs, missiles, grenades, land mines), and the component parts of ...

in the UK during the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

Early life and education

Nathan was born 10 February 1861, the son of Johan Nathan. Being a Jew, he did not have access to leading British public schools, so was educated privately, before entering the

Royal Military Academy, Woolwich The Royal Military Academy (RMA) at Woolwich, in south-east London, was a British Army military academy for the training of Officer (armed forces), commissioned officers of the Royal Artillery and Royal Engineers. It later also trained officers o ...

Career

Nathan joined the

Royal Artillery The Royal Regiment of Artillery, commonly referred to as the Royal Artillery (RA) and colloquially known as "The Gunners", is one of two regiments that make up the artillery arm of the British Army. The Royal Regiment of Artillery comprises t ...

in 1879, serving in Britain and India specialising in ordnance, helping to develop the

magazine A magazine is a periodical literature, periodical publication, print or digital, produced on a regular schedule, that contains any of a variety of subject-oriented textual and visual content (media), content forms. Magazines are generally fin ...

rifle and rising eventually to the rank of Brevet

Colonel Colonel ( ; abbreviated as Col., Col, or COL) is a senior military Officer (armed forces), officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, a colon ...

, his last post being Superintendent of the Royal Gunpowder Factory, Waltham Abbey. The factory produced more than just gunpowder, and Nathan was responsible for the first production batches of

cordite Cordite is a family of smokeless propellants developed and produced in Britain since 1889 to replace black powder as a military firearm propellant. Like modern gunpowder, cordite is classified as a low explosive because of its slow burni ...

and a patent for equipment for the manufacture of

nitroglycerine Nitroglycerin (NG) (alternative spelling nitroglycerine), also known as trinitroglycerol (TNG), nitro, glyceryl trinitrate (GTN), or 1,2,3-trinitroxypropane, is a dense, colorless or pale yellow, oily, explosive liquid most commonly produced by ...

. Leaving the army in 1909, he took up the position of general manager of Nobel's Explosives Co's works at Ardeer. During the First World War, Nathan was responsible for building factories for the production of

TNT Troponin T (shortened TnT or TropT) is a part of the troponin complex, which are proteins integral to the contraction of skeletal and heart muscles. They are expressed in skeletal and cardiac myocytes. Troponin T binds to tropomyosin and helps ...

and cordite. With the

Shell Crisis of 1915 The Shell Crisis of 1915 was a shortage of artillery shells on the front lines in the First World War that led to a political crisis in the United Kingdom. Previous military experience led to an over-reliance on shrapnel to attack infantry in th ...

he was made the Director of

Propellant A propellant (or propellent) is a mass that is expelled or expanded in such a way as to create a thrust or another motive force in accordance with Newton's third law of motion, and "propel" a vehicle, projectile, or fluid payload. In vehicle ...

Supplies in the

Ministry of Munitions The Minister of Munitions was a British government position created during the First World War to oversee and co-ordinate the production and distribution of munitions for the war effort. The position was created in response to the Shell Crisis o ...

which meant taking charge of the soap and distillery industries for supplies of

glycerine Glycerol () is a simple triol compound. It is a colorless, odorless, sweet-tasting, viscous liquid. The glycerol backbone is found in lipids known as glycerides. It is also widely used as a sweetener in the food industry and as a humectant in ...

and

alcohol Alcohol may refer to: Common uses * Alcohol (chemistry), a class of compounds * Ethanol, one of several alcohols, commonly known as alcohol in everyday life ** Alcohol (drug), intoxicant found in alcoholic beverages ** Alcoholic beverage, an alco ...

. He was also Chair of the Standing Committee on the Causes of Explosions in Government and Controlled Factories. After the war he joined the government Department of Scientific & Industrial Research, being in charge of fuels research and later in a subcommittee on explosives in mines.

Institution of Chemical Engineers

He was one of the principal proponents of the formation of an

Institution of Chemical Engineers The Institution of Chemical Engineers (IChemE) is a global professional engineering institution with 30,000 members in 114 countries. It was founded in 1922 and awarded a Royal Charter in 1957. The Institution has offices in Rugby, Warwickshire, ...

and one of its founder members in 1922, becoming vice-president and then the second President 1925–7, an active member until his death and particularly concerned with education.

Personal life

In 1888 he married Adeline Edith Sichel, and they had four sons, one of whom was killed in action. He was active in the

Boy Scouts Association The Scout Association is the largest organisation in the Scout Movement in the United Kingdom. Following the rapid development of the Scout Movement from 1907, The Scout Association was formed in 1910 and incorporated in 1912 by a royal chart ...

, being commander of the Jewish Lads Brigade, and a member of the

Jewish Historical Society The Jewish Historical Society of England (JHSE) was founded in 1893 by several Anglo-Jewish scholars, including Lucien Wolf, who became the society's first president. Early presidents of the JHSE included Hermann Adler, Michael Adler, Joseph Jacobs ...

He was on the management committee of the

Royal Institution The Royal Institution of Great Britain (often the Royal Institution, Ri or RI) is an organisation for scientific education and research, based in the City of Westminster. It was founded in 1799 by the leading British scientists of the age, inc ...

. He was Chairman of the

Association of Special Libraries and Information Bureaux ASLIB: The Association for Information Management (often stylized ''Aslib'') was a British association of special libraries and information centres. It was founded in England in 1924 as the Association of Special Libraries and Information Bureaux. ...

. He died at home in Cornwall Gardens,

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

on 10 December 1933.

Honours

He was knighted in 1906 and created

KBE KBE may refer to: * Knight Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, post-nominal letters * Knowledge-based engineering Knowledge-based engineering (KBE) is the application of knowledge-based systems technology to the domain o ...

in 1918. The same year he received the

Order of Leopold II The Order of Leopold II is an order of Belgium and is named in honor of King Leopold II. The decoration was established on 24 August 1900 by Leopold II as Sovereign of the Congo Free State and was in 1908, upon Congo being handed over to Belgiu ...

from the

King of the Belgians The monarchy of Belgium is the Constitutional monarchy, constitutional and Inheritance, hereditary institution of the monarchical head of state of the Kingdom of Belgium. As a popular monarchy, the Belgian monarch uses the title king/quee ...

. He also received the Russian

Order of Saint Anna The Imperial Order of Saint Anna (; also "Order of Saint Anne" or "Order of Saint Ann") was a Holstein ducal and then Russian imperial order of chivalry. It was established by Karl Friedrich, Duke of Holstein-Gottorp, on 14 February 1735, in hono ...

References

{{reflist British people of Jewish descent British chemical engineers 1861 births 1933 deaths British people of World War I