Conan Doyle and Bullet-Proof Clothing
Conan Doyle and Bullet-Proof Clothing is an article written by Dr Margaret O'Sullivan published in the A.C.D. - The Journal of The Arthur Conan Doyle Society (Vol. 9, june 1999).
This article examines Arthur Conan Doyle's efforts during the First World War to promote bullet-proof clothing for soldiers, using business records from Herbert Frood's company as evidence. It shows how Conan Doyle tried to turn his wartime ideas into practice, while also explaining why such protective equipment was not widely adopted at the time.
Conan Doyle and Bullet-Proof Clothing
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's interest in body armour for soldiers and sailors on active service is well known, but a chance discovery in the business records of a brake-lining firm in North Derbyshire tells us how he put his ideas into practice.
In 1897 an entrepreneur, Herbert Frood, set up a workshop in his garden shed near Chapel-en-le-Frith, a small rural community 170 miles from London. He originally made brakes for carriages but, with the advent of the motor car, Frood saw the potential for a greatly increased market. He called his company Ferodo, a variation on his surname. But brakes for cars were only one of Herbert Frood's products. He had his own research and development department and actively sought new uses for the strong, yet light, asbestos-based fabric he manufactured. He was also willing to take on commissions for private customers — the phrase 'no job too small was typical of his attitude. Publicity was in his view the key to success in the business world, and advertising, whether in the popular press of the day or by word of mouth, was central to his business.
Conan Doyle got to know of Frood and his willingness to produce and test new products. His own experiences in the Boer War had convinced Sir Arthur of the value of protective clothing for servicemen, and he campaigned in the press from August 1914. His early recommendations, for inflatable rubber collars for troops embarking for France, and the provision of inflatable lifeboats for all warships, were accepted. Body armour for the infantry was more problematic. He examined the possibility of plate armour and had various examples tested. These early trials did lead to the introduction of the tin hat and, later, to caterpillar armoured cars and tanks, but personal protection did not have high priority amongst the authorities. Perhaps this is why in 1916, after his own visit to the Front, Conan Doyle instructed Herbert Frood to manufacture for him two different types of bullet-proof material. Frood complied, and samples of the two sorts of fabric, one boiled in black wax' and the other compressed to 3/16 of a inch thick, were despatched to Conan Doyle at his home in Sussex on 9 August 1916.
The result was that Conan Doyle had a very positive reply from the Prime Minister, Lloyd George, who told him, 'we are giving very special attention to this question of body shields but strange to say our great difficulty is to get soldiers at the front to take them into use'. Similarly, Winston Churchill commented on 1 October 1916, 'there are plenty of good ideas if only they can be backed with power and brought into relief.'
Despite Sir Arthur's influence and persistence, Churchill's scepticism was to prove well founded. It was to be many years after the end of the First World War before lightweight body armour, now routine equipment for both police and armed forces, came into widespread use. Who knows how many lives might have been saved if Frood's invention and Conan Doyle's enthusiasm had carried the day?
The firm founded by Henry Frood grew from strength to strength, eventually occupying a twelve-acre site where the garden shed had once stood. It remains one of the main manufacturers and distributors of brake-linings in England, but it was only when the old business records were transferred into Derbyshire Record Office in 1997 that the Conan Doyle entry was spotted in one of their research notebooks. Now this, together with all the other archives of the firm, can be consulted by members of the public in the Record Office in New Street, Matlock, Derbyshire.
Also noted:
Gardner, Barry. 'Conan Doyle and the mystery of the bullet-proof uniform', Police History Society Journal, 1998, pp. 37-8 (reprinted from Police magazine. The Police Federation.) Our thanks to Major John D. Whitehouse, Las Vegas, NV, for bringing this item to our attention.
Boffey, Chris. 'How Haig shot down Conan Doyle's bullet-proof invention.'. London: The Sunday Telegraph, (undated clipping), p. 11.
- Article courtesy Christopher Roden, founder of The Arthur Conan Doyle Society (1989-2003).
