Catalogue description War Office and successors: Chemical Inspection Department: Reports and Papers

From its inception in the mid-nineteenth century until 1939 the Chemical Inspection Department was a part of the War Office under the control of the Master General of Ordnance. Following the outbreak of the Second World War, responsibility for the department was transferred to the Director General of Munitions Production at the Ministry of Supply. In 1940 the Chief Chemical Inspector left Woolwich for safer accommodation at Cambridge which was followed in 1943 by a move to Bromley, Kent. Evacuation outstations were sited at Bristol, Cardiff and Manchester as well as various branches and outstations established at government factories and contractors' works.

The function of the department was to carry out analytical, investigatory and consultative work of a very diverse nature on behalf of the Ministry of Supply and the service departments. This involved the sampling and examination of materials such as explosives, pyrotechnics, smoke and incendiary compositions, chemical warfare materials, lubricants, paints and varnishes as well as the preparation and amendment of chemical specifications. In addition, advice was given on the purchase, storage, transport, prevention of deterioration and disposal of a wide variety of stores including new or proprietary materials suggested for service use.

Following the re-constitution of the Ministry of Supply in 1959 as the Ministry of Aviation, control of chemical inspection was assumed by the new ministry until 1962 when the War Office again took on the responsibility.