Millis Jefferis
Encyclopedia
Major-General
Sir Millis Rowland Jefferis KBE
MC
(9 January 1899–5 September 1963) was, during the Second World War, the founder of a special unit of the British Ministry of Supply
which developed unusual weapons.
and Royal Military Academy Woolwich. From Woolwich he was commissioned into the Royal Engineers
on 6 June 1918 and after passing through the School of Military Engineering
at Chatham
, he was posted to the First Field Squadron RE in the Rhine Army.
In 1920 he went to India
and served with the Queen's Own Madras Sappers and Miners
in the Third Field Troop at Sialkot. In 1922 he went into the Works Services in India as garrison engineer at Kohat
and then at Khaisora which is today in Pakistan
. He saw active service in the Waziristan Campaign
where his main responsibility was the construction of roads. On 12 June 1923 he was awarded the Military Cross
, the citation read:
He then returned to Chatham and went to Cambridge University.
In 1925 he returned to India and was placed on special duty at Kabul
in the foreign and political department. In 1926 he returned to Nowshera as garrison engineer and spent several years in Works Services at Peshawar
where he made full use of this engineering genius designing bridges. Also in 1925, he married Ruth Caryolyne, daughter of G. E. Wakefield. They had three sons, two of whom went on to serve in the Royal Engineers. On 1 June 1929, Jefferis was promoted to captain.
In 1934 he was posted to the Royal Bombay Sappers and Miners at Kirkee as a company commander in the training battalion. He returned to England in 1936 and joined the Twenty-third Field Company at Aldershot
. Moving to the First Field Squadron, he stayed at Aldershot while the unit was being mechanized
. While at Aldershot, Jefferis successfully raced horses and played squash
competitively. He was promoted major on 6 June 1938, and onn 4 April 1939 he was appointed a General Staff Officer, Grade 2.
For his service in Norway, Jefferis was awarded the Norwegian War Cross with sword
, and Mentioned in Despatches for his efforts in the withdrawal from Lillehammer
.
, Jefferis' unit was not included and it instead became a department in the Ministry of Defence; the only unit of the Minister of Defence (The Prime Minister
, Churchill
) and was known as "MD1
", ultimately based in a house called "The Firs" in Whitchurch near Aylesbury
in Buckinghamshire
England.
The unit was responsible for the design, development and production of a number of unique special forces and regular munitions during the Second World War. It gained the nickname "Winston Churchill's toyshop".
Jefferis was an explosives expert and engineer, but lacked the ability to manage men well. He was assisted in the management of MD1 by a wily assistant – Major Stuart Macrae
, whose book Winston Churchill's Toyshop, is still one of the few published works on this unique unit.
Over the period of the Second World War, MD1 was responsible for the introduction into service of a total of 26 different devices.
Their designs include the PIAT
, the Sticky bomb
and one of the first magnetic Limpet naval mines.
Through the application of the Squash head and HEAT technology they had a role in the development and production of Lt-Col Stewart Blacker
's Blacker Bombard
, the PIAT (Blacker's smaller version of the bombard matched to a hollow charge warhead, Hedgehog
(effectively an adaption of the Bombard spigot mortart principle working with the Navy's Directorate of Miscellaneous Weapons Development
) and tank variants including the AVRE
with its "Flying Dustbin" 290mm Petard spigot mortar, and a bridge-laying tank.
Jefferis developed the idea of the squash head further. His most ambitious project was a bomb designed to sink capital ship
s, his ideas were put forward by himself and Lord Cherwell in 1944 and coincided with the Admiralty's interest in developing a homing bomb for use against the Japanese. The development of this weapon was supported by the Air Staff and MAP who allocated it a higher priority that any other anti-capital ship weapon. When the war ended, development of the 'Cherwell-Jefferis' bomb was continued under the code names Journey's End and Blue Boar.
Prime Minister Churchill became acquainted with then Major Jefferis in 1940 and regarded him as a "singularly capable and forceful man." He recommended a promotion to lieutenant colonel so that Jefferis would have more authority. Jefferis received substantive promotion to this rank on 10 February 1944.
Jefferis was promoted to Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (KBE) by Churchill in the 1945 Prime Minister's Resignation Honours
, having previously been appointed a Commander of the Order (CBE). He was promoted to acting major general on 15 May 1945, and substantive colonel on 14 July 1945. He left the Ministry of Supply on 20 November 1945, reverting to the temporary rank of brigadier.
on 1 November 1947, and returned to England on 2 January 1950 to become Chief Superintendent of the Military Engineering Experimental Establishment, reverting to the rank of brigadier on 8 March 1950. He was made ADC to the King on 24 May 1951 and held that appointment until he retired on 18 August 1953, on his retirement he was granted the honorary rank of major-general. As an ADC, Jefferis took part in the funeral of King George VI's
funeral, and Queen Elizabeth II's Coronation Procession
He died on 5 September 1962.
Major-General (United Kingdom)
Major general is a senior rank in the British Army. Since 1996 the highest position within the Royal Marines is the Commandant General Royal Marines who holds the rank of major general...
Sir Millis Rowland Jefferis KBE
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
MC
Military Cross
The Military Cross is the third-level military decoration awarded to officers and other ranks of the British Armed Forces; and formerly also to officers of other Commonwealth countries....
(9 January 1899–5 September 1963) was, during the Second World War, the founder of a special unit of the British Ministry of Supply
Ministry of Supply
The Ministry of Supply was a department of the UK Government formed in 1939 to co-ordinate the supply of equipment to all three British armed forces, headed by the Minister of Supply. There was, however, a separate ministry responsible for aircraft production and the Admiralty retained...
which developed unusual weapons.
Early career
Born on 9 January 1899 Jefferis was educated at Tonbridge SchoolTonbridge School
Tonbridge School is a British boys' independent school for both boarding and day pupils in Tonbridge, Kent, founded in 1553 by Sir Andrew Judd . It is a member of the Eton Group, and has close links with the Worshipful Company of Skinners, one of the oldest London livery companies...
and Royal Military Academy Woolwich. From Woolwich he was commissioned into the Royal Engineers
Royal Engineers
The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually just called the Royal Engineers , and commonly known as the Sappers, is one of the corps of the British Army....
on 6 June 1918 and after passing through the School of Military Engineering
School of Military Engineering
School of Military Engineering may refer to a training institution for military engineering such as:*Royal School of Military Engineering of the British Army*College of Military Engineering, Pune of the Indian Army...
at Chatham
Chatham, Medway
Chatham is one of the Medway towns located within the Medway unitary authority, in North Kent, in South East England.Although the dockyard has long been closed and is now being redeveloped into a business and residential community as well as a museum featuring the famous submarine, HMS Ocelot,...
, he was posted to the First Field Squadron RE in the Rhine Army.
In 1920 he went to India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
and served with the Queen's Own Madras Sappers and Miners
Madras Engineer Group
Madras Engineer Group are a regiment of the Corps of Engineers of the Indian Army. The Madras Sappers draw their origin from the erstwhile Madras Presidency army of the British Raj. This regiment has its HQ in Bangalore...
in the Third Field Troop at Sialkot. In 1922 he went into the Works Services in India as garrison engineer at Kohat
Kohat
Kohat is a medium sized town in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. It is located at 33°35'13N 71°26'29E with an altitude of 489 metres and is the capital of Kohat District. The town centres around a British-era fort, various bazaars, and a military cantonment. A British-built narrow gauge...
and then at Khaisora which is today in Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
. He saw active service in the Waziristan Campaign
Waziristan Campaign
The Waziristan campaign 1936–1939 consisted of a number of operations conducted in Waziristan by British and Indian forces against the fiercely independent tribesmen that inhabited this region...
where his main responsibility was the construction of roads. On 12 June 1923 he was awarded the Military Cross
Military Cross
The Military Cross is the third-level military decoration awarded to officers and other ranks of the British Armed Forces; and formerly also to officers of other Commonwealth countries....
, the citation read:
He then returned to Chatham and went to Cambridge University.
In 1925 he returned to India and was placed on special duty at Kabul
Kabul
Kabul , spelt Caubul in some classic literatures, is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan. It is also the capital of the Kabul Province, located in the eastern section of Afghanistan...
in the foreign and political department. In 1926 he returned to Nowshera as garrison engineer and spent several years in Works Services at Peshawar
Peshawar
Peshawar is the capital of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and the administrative center and central economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan....
where he made full use of this engineering genius designing bridges. Also in 1925, he married Ruth Caryolyne, daughter of G. E. Wakefield. They had three sons, two of whom went on to serve in the Royal Engineers. On 1 June 1929, Jefferis was promoted to captain.
In 1934 he was posted to the Royal Bombay Sappers and Miners at Kirkee as a company commander in the training battalion. He returned to England in 1936 and joined the Twenty-third Field Company at Aldershot
Aldershot
Aldershot is a town in the English county of Hampshire, located on heathland about southwest of London. The town is administered by Rushmoor Borough Council...
. Moving to the First Field Squadron, he stayed at Aldershot while the unit was being mechanized
Mechanized
Mechanized refers to the use of machines. Related articles:*Mechanised agriculture*Mechanization* For "Mechanized artillery", see Self-propelled artillery* For "Mechanized force" and "Mechanized warfare", see Armoured warfare*Mechanized infantry...
. While at Aldershot, Jefferis successfully raced horses and played squash
Squash (sport)
Squash is a high-speed racquet sport played by two players in a four-walled court with a small, hollow rubber ball...
competitively. He was promoted major on 6 June 1938, and onn 4 April 1939 he was appointed a General Staff Officer, Grade 2.
Norway
In 1940, Jefferis was sent to Norway, he returned to give a personal account of his activities to Prime Minister Winston Churchill who used his report to brief the War Cabinet:For his service in Norway, Jefferis was awarded the Norwegian War Cross with sword
War Cross with sword
The War Cross with Sword is the highest ranking Norwegian gallantry decoration. It is awarded for extraordinary brave actions or extraordinary leadership during combat. A recipient deemed worthy of additional citations will receive up to an additional two swords on the medal ribbon in addition to...
, and Mentioned in Despatches for his efforts in the withdrawal from Lillehammer
Lillehammer
is a town and municipality in Oppland county, Norway, globally known for hosting the 1994 Winter Olympics. It is part of the traditional region of Gudbrandsdal. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Lillehammer. As of May 2011, the population of the town of Lillehammer was...
.
MD1
Jefferis started working on sabotage devices for the "Military Intelligence Research" (MIR). When MIR was combined with other hush-hush elements to form the SOESpecial Operations Executive
The Special Operations Executive was a World War II organisation of the United Kingdom. It was officially formed by Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Minister of Economic Warfare Hugh Dalton on 22 July 1940, to conduct guerrilla warfare against the Axis powers and to instruct and aid local...
, Jefferis' unit was not included and it instead became a department in the Ministry of Defence; the only unit of the Minister of Defence (The Prime Minister
Prime minister
A prime minister is the most senior minister of cabinet in the executive branch of government in a parliamentary system. In many systems, the prime minister selects and may dismiss other members of the cabinet, and allocates posts to members within the government. In most systems, the prime...
, Churchill
Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, was a predominantly Conservative British politician and statesman known for his leadership of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest wartime leaders of the century and served as Prime Minister twice...
) and was known as "MD1
MD1
Ministry of Defence 1 , also known as "Churchill's Toyshop" was a British weapon research and development organisation of the Second World War....
", ultimately based in a house called "The Firs" in Whitchurch near Aylesbury
Aylesbury
Aylesbury is the county town of Buckinghamshire in South East England. However the town also falls into a geographical region known as the South Midlands an area that ecompasses the north of the South East, and the southern extremities of the East Midlands...
in Buckinghamshire
Buckinghamshire
Buckinghamshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan home county in South East England. The county town is Aylesbury, the largest town in the ceremonial county is Milton Keynes and largest town in the non-metropolitan county is High Wycombe....
England.
The unit was responsible for the design, development and production of a number of unique special forces and regular munitions during the Second World War. It gained the nickname "Winston Churchill's toyshop".
Jefferis was an explosives expert and engineer, but lacked the ability to manage men well. He was assisted in the management of MD1 by a wily assistant – Major Stuart Macrae
Stuart Macrae (inventor)
Colonel Robert Stuart Macrae TD was an inventor best known for his work at MD1 during the Second World War, his best known invention being the sticky bomb.Macrae was the author of Winston Chuchill's Toyshop...
, whose book Winston Churchill's Toyshop, is still one of the few published works on this unique unit.
Over the period of the Second World War, MD1 was responsible for the introduction into service of a total of 26 different devices.
Their designs include the PIAT
PIAT
The Projector, Infantry, Anti Tank was a British hand-held anti-tank weapon developed during the Second World War. The PIAT was designed in 1942 in response to the British Army's need for a more effective infantry anti-tank weapon, and entered service in 1943.The PIAT was based on the spigot...
, the Sticky bomb
Sticky bomb
The Grenade, Hand, Anti-Tank No. 74, commonly known as the sticky bomb, was a British hand grenade designed and produced during the Second World War. The grenade was one of a number of anti-tank weapons developed for use by the British Army and Home Guard as an ad hoc solution to a lack of...
and one of the first magnetic Limpet naval mines.
Through the application of the Squash head and HEAT technology they had a role in the development and production of Lt-Col Stewart Blacker
Stewart Blacker
Lieutenant-Colonel Latham Valentine Stewart Blacker OBE was a British Army officer and inventor of weapons.He invented the Blacker Bombard, laid the basis of the PIAT - both based on the spigot mortar - and the Ayre Petard...
's Blacker Bombard
Blacker Bombard
The Blacker Bombard, also known as the 29mm Spigot Mortar, was an infantry anti-tank weapon devised by Lieutenant-Colonel Stewart Blacker in the early years of the Second World War.-Development:...
, the PIAT (Blacker's smaller version of the bombard matched to a hollow charge warhead, Hedgehog
Hedgehog (weapon)
The Hedgehog was an anti-submarine weapon developed by the Royal Navy during World War II, that was deployed on convoy escort warships such as destroyers to supplement the depth charge. The weapon worked by firing a number of small spigot mortar bombs from spiked fittings...
(effectively an adaption of the Bombard spigot mortart principle working with the Navy's Directorate of Miscellaneous Weapons Development
Directorate of Miscellaneous Weapons Development
The Directorate of Miscellaneous Weapons Development , known colloquially as the Wheezers and Dodgers, was a department of the Admiralty responsible for the development of various unconventional weapons during World War II...
) and tank variants including the AVRE
Avre
Avre may refer to:*Avre , a river in northwestern France, tributary of the Eure*Avre , a river in northern France, tributary of the Somme*Armoured Vehicle Royal Engineers, a military vehicle of the British Army...
with its "Flying Dustbin" 290mm Petard spigot mortar, and a bridge-laying tank.
Jefferis developed the idea of the squash head further. His most ambitious project was a bomb designed to sink capital ship
Capital ship
The capital ships of a navy are its most important warships; they generally possess the heaviest firepower and armor and are traditionally much larger than other naval vessels...
s, his ideas were put forward by himself and Lord Cherwell in 1944 and coincided with the Admiralty's interest in developing a homing bomb for use against the Japanese. The development of this weapon was supported by the Air Staff and MAP who allocated it a higher priority that any other anti-capital ship weapon. When the war ended, development of the 'Cherwell-Jefferis' bomb was continued under the code names Journey's End and Blue Boar.
Prime Minister Churchill became acquainted with then Major Jefferis in 1940 and regarded him as a "singularly capable and forceful man." He recommended a promotion to lieutenant colonel so that Jefferis would have more authority. Jefferis received substantive promotion to this rank on 10 February 1944.
Jefferis was promoted to Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (KBE) by Churchill in the 1945 Prime Minister's Resignation Honours
1945 Prime Minister's Resignation Honours
The 1945 Prime Minister's Resignation Honours were announced on 14 August 1945 to mark the resignation of Prime Minister Winston Churchill, following the success of the Labour Party in the 1945 General Election....
, having previously been appointed a Commander of the Order (CBE). He was promoted to acting major general on 15 May 1945, and substantive colonel on 14 July 1945. He left the Ministry of Supply on 20 November 1945, reverting to the temporary rank of brigadier.
Later career
In 1945 Jefferis became deputy Engineer-in-Chief in India and 1947 he became Engineer-in-Chief in Pakistan, holding the temporary rank of major general. He was promoted to substantive brigadierBrigadier
Brigadier is a senior military rank, the meaning of which is somewhat different in different military services. The brigadier rank is generally superior to the rank of colonel, and subordinate to major general....
on 1 November 1947, and returned to England on 2 January 1950 to become Chief Superintendent of the Military Engineering Experimental Establishment, reverting to the rank of brigadier on 8 March 1950. He was made ADC to the King on 24 May 1951 and held that appointment until he retired on 18 August 1953, on his retirement he was granted the honorary rank of major-general. As an ADC, Jefferis took part in the funeral of King George VI's
George VI of the United Kingdom
George VI was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth from 11 December 1936 until his death...
funeral, and Queen Elizabeth II's Coronation Procession
Coronation of the British monarch
The coronation of the British monarch is a ceremony in which the monarch of the United Kingdom is formally crowned and invested with regalia...
He died on 5 September 1962.
Ocean Racing
Jefferis had a passion for Ocean racing. In 1938, he built a 7-ton yacht at Aldershot called Prelude with another Royal Engineer's officer and they sailed successfully both before and after the war.Further reading
- Delaforce, Patrick. Churchill's Secret Weapons: The Story of Hobart's Funnies. (2007) ISBN 9781844154647