Catalogue description Records created and inherited by the Anti-Locust Research Centre

The Anti-Locust Research Centre (ALRC) was established in 1945 as an agency of the Colonial Office. Its forerunners were the Locust Sub-Committee of the Cabinet Committee on Civil Research (1929-1930) and its successors, the Economic Advisory Council's Committee on Locust Control (1930-1945) and the Inter-departmental Committee on Locust Control (set up in 1942).

Research and development proposed by these bodies in the 1930s and 1940s was undertaken for the Committee by the Imperial Bureau (later Institute) of Entomology under the direction of Sir Guy Marshall, and the practical aspects of administration and control undertaken by Dr B P (later Sir Boris) Uvarov. In 1945 this work passed to the ALRC, which was independent of the Imperial Institute of Entomology but under the administrative control of the Colonial Office. Uvarov was appointed as the ALRC's first Director.

From 1946, the Centre was guided in its scientific work by the Advisory Committee on Anti-Locust Research. The Inter-departmental Committee on Locust Control remained in existence for a time to co-ordinate the work of the Centre with interested departments of state.

In 1961 control of the Centre passed to the Department of Technical Co-operation, and in 1965 the ALRC became an agency of the Ministry of Overseas Development. In 1971 it was decided that the ALRC, together with other units primarily engaged in the entomological field, should be merged into a single Centre for Overseas Pest Research.

The activities of both the Committee and the Centre have included research into the various types of locust (red, desert, migratory, etc), habitat, breeding centres and conditions, methods of control, etc, and also the dissemination of information about potential swarms, weather conditions affecting breeding and any other relevant factors. The work of the Committee and the Centre was and is international in character, and close co-operation has been maintained with individuals and centres in many countries.