Brian Duncan Shaw

Lieutenant Colonel Brian Duncan Shaw, MM, TD (10 February 1898 – 7 November 1999) was a British chemistry lecturer at the University of Nottingham,[3] known for his demonstrations on explosives.[4]

This article is about the chemistry lecturer. For other people named Brian Shaw, see Brian Shaw (disambiguation).

Brian Duncan Shaw

MM TD
Brian Shaw in 1947
Born(1898-02-10)10 February 1898
Ilkeston, Derbyshire, England
Died7 November 1999(1999-11-07) (aged 101)[1]
Beeston, Nottinghamshire, England[2]
Alma materUniversity College, Nottingham
Spouses
Margaret Elsie Wheldon
​
​
(m. 1916)​
    Alice Maud
    ​
    (m. 1990)​
    AwardsMilitary Medal
    Territorial Decoration
    Scientific career
    Thesis (1927)
    Doctoral advisorFrederic Stanley Kipping

    Early and personal life

    Shaw was born in Ilkeston, Derbyshire, the fourth and youngest child of Samuel Shaw and Lydia Emma Shaw, his brothers and sisters being named Lydia Emma, Mabel and Clarence Gordon. His father was a brick manufacturer and his mother had been working as a teacher.[5]

    He started working at Boots the Chemist in 1914 as an apprentice pharmacist.[3]

    In May 1916, he married his first wife, Margaret Elsie Wheldon.[6] After her death in 1990 he married Alice Maud on 5 June of the same year; she died in 1998, a year before Shaw himself.

    Career

    Military service

    During the First World War, with the Royal Lincolnshire Regiment,[7] he fought on the battles of Somme, Cambrai and Passchendaele.[8] In July 1917 Cpl Shaw was awarded the Military Medal (MM) for bravery at Beaucamp near Cambrai.

    He served with the 5th Battalion, Sherwood Foresters in the Second World War. At the Fall of France, on 10 June 1940, he was cut off in Normandy by German tanks, and was separated from the battalion he was with. After that, he got a bike and spent ten weeks hiding from the Nazis, while trying to reach Spain, eventually cycling 300 miles (480 kilometres). Near Poitiers, a French gendarme stopped him because the bicycle lacked a plaque used for annual tax, and phoned the Germans, who made him prisoner.[9] He was sent to Germany and spent the rest of the war in five POW camps,[3] including at Tittmoning, Bavaria and Spangenburg bei Kassel.[6]

    As a prisoner of war, Shaw took part in theatrical productions. Among other things he played the part of the ghost in Hamlet in a production at Tittmoning.

    Academic career

    Apart from a brief period as a Lecturer at the East London College, ending in 1923, B.D. Shaw spent his entire career as a lecturer in chemistry at University College in Nottingham, which from 1948 onwards was the University of Nottingham.

    From 1930, he became known for the "Explosives Lecture" which demonstrated a large variety of ways to produce flashes and bangs using chemistry, including the Barking dog reaction. He would continue to provide this lecture for a total of 60 years, extending long past his official retirement. In 1969, the Explosives Lecture was filmed by the BBC.[10]

    He published several articles on pyridines, mainly in the Journal of the Chemical Society.[11][12][13][14][15][16]

    After his retirement in 1965, he continued giving lectures and worked as an expert witness in several court cases, such as the defence of the Angry Brigade.[17][18]

    A blue plaque was installed on 16 November 2012 at his home.[19][20] As a part of the Periodic table of videos, Prof. Martyn Poliakoff and Brady Haran filmed the event.[21]

    The Shaw Medal

    In 1988, the University of Nottingham created a medal in his honour called the Shaw Medal. Shaw himself was the first recipient of this prize.[3]

    • The blue plaque located at the front door of its former residence at Queens Road, Beeston.
      The blue plaque located at the front door of its former residence at Queens Road, Beeston.
    • Shaw (left), 5th Battalion Sherwood Foresters at Bisley 1947, firing a Bren light machine gun. The 5th Battalion team won the 'China Cup', 'Velongdis Cup' and 'Lewis 9mm' cup at Bisley in 1947
      Shaw (left), 5th Battalion Sherwood Foresters at Bisley 1947, firing a Bren light machine gun. The 5th Battalion team won the 'China Cup', 'Velongdis Cup' and 'Lewis 9mm' cup at Bisley in 1947
    • Rare image of Dr Brian Duncan Shaw giving a practical demonstration of explosive chemistry at the age of 88.
      Rare image of Dr Brian Duncan Shaw giving a practical demonstration of explosive chemistry at the age of 88.[22]

    References
    1. "'Official Gazette of United Kingdom', 15 August 2000". Archived from the original on 30 January 2015. Retrieved 30 January 2015.
    2. "'Blue plaque for birthplace of Nottingham's famous explosives lecturer', 5 March 2015". 5 March 2015. Retrieved 16 March 2015.
    3. "The Career of Lt. Col. Brian Duncan SHAW MM TD BSc PhD DSc", University of Nottingham. Retrieved on 30 January 2015.
    4. It's a Blast! public lecture on explosives by Col B D Shaw, accessed 31 January 2015.
    5. Brian Duncan shaw - Genealogy Chart - Boards - Genes Reunited, accessed 22 March 2015.
    6. Robin Mackie (2004). "Shaw, Brian Duncan (1898-1999)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/73575. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
    7. London Gazette 28 June 1918,Supplement 30733, Page 7720 "Appointment as Temporary Lieutenant Lincolnshire Regiment".
    8. "The Career of Colonel Brian Shaw". www.nottingham.ac.uk.
    9. "Ten weeks in hiding". Nottingham Evening Post. 1 February 1941. p. 5. Retrieved 22 March 2015.
    10. "The B.D. Shaw Lecture". University of Nottingham. 1999. Retrieved 13 September 2020.
    11. Shaw, B. D. (1923). "CCXLIX.?Bromination of aliphatic acids". Journal of the Chemical Society, Transactions. 123: 2233–2240. doi:10.1039/CT9232302233.
    12. Shaw, B. D. (1924). "CCXLV.?Fission of the pyridine nucleus during reduction". Journal of the Chemical Society, Transactions. 125: 1930–1934. doi:10.1039/CT9242501930.
    13. Shaw, B. D. (1924). "CCCXIX.?2 : 6-Distyrylpyridine and its derivatives". Journal of the Chemical Society, Transactions. 125: 2363–2365. doi:10.1039/CT9242502363.
    14. Shaw, B. D. (1925). "XXXVI.?Fission of the pyridine nucleus during reduction. Part II. The preparation of glutardialdoxime". Journal of the Chemical Society, Transactions. 127: 215–216. doi:10.1039/CT9252700215.
    15. Blood, J. W.; Shaw, B. D. (1930). "LXXI.?The reactivity of halogen atoms in compounds of the pyridine series. Part I. The halides of 2-stilbazole". Journal of the Chemical Society (Resumed): 504–507. doi:10.1039/JR9300000504.
    16. Shaw, B. D. (1937). "61. The preparation of 1 : 5-dioximes from pyridine bases". Journal of the Chemical Society (Resumed): 300. doi:10.1039/JR9370000300.
    17. Jones, David (28 November 1985). "Still going down like a bomb". New Scientist: 62–63. Retrieved 22 March 2015.
    18. Exploding Pianos - Periodic Table of Videos on YouTube. Retrieved 22 March 2015.
    19. "Blue Plaques". 31 August 2014.
    20. "Blue Plaques". www.beestonhistory.org.uk.
    21. Explosives Legend - Periodic Table of Videos on YouTube. Retrieved 16 March 2015.
    22. "Colonel Brian Shaw's Explosives Lecture".

    Further reading

    Media related to Brian Duncan Shaw at Wikimedia Commons

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