William Howard Livens DSO

Distinguished Service Order

The Distinguished Service Order is a military decoration of the United Kingdom, and formerly of other parts of the British Commonwealth and Empire, awarded for meritorious or distinguished service by officers of the armed forces during wartime, typically in actual combat.Instituted on 6 September...

 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....

 (28 March 1889 – 1 February 1964) was an engineer, a soldier in the British Army

British Army

The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...

 and an inventor particularly known for the design of chemical warfare

Chemical warfare

Chemical warfare involves using the toxic properties of chemical substances as weapons. This type of warfare is distinct from Nuclear warfare and Biological warfare, which together make up NBC, the military acronym for Nuclear, Biological, and Chemical...

 and flame warfare weapons. Resourceful and clever, Livens’ successful creations were characterised by being very practical and easy to produce in large numbers. In an obituary, Sir Harold Hartley

Harold Hartley

Sir Harold Brewer Hartley GCVO CH FRS was a British physical chemist. He moved from academia to important positions in business and industry.He was educated at Dulwich College, and Balliol College, Oxford...

 said "Livens combined great energy and enterprise with a flair for seeing simple solutions and inventive genius."

Livens is best known for inventing the Livens Projector

Livens Projector

The Livens Projector was a simple mortar-like weapon that could throw large drums filled with flammable or toxic chemicals. In the First World War, the Livens Projector became the standard means of delivering gas attacks and it remained in the arsenal of the British Army until the early years of...

 a simple mortar-like weapon that could throw large drums filled with inflammable or toxic chemicals.