Brian Duncan Shaw

Brian Duncan Shaw
Born (1898-02-10)10 February 1898
Ilkeston, Derbyshire, England
Died 7 November 1999(1999-11-07) (aged 101)[1]
Beeston, Nottinghamshire, England[2]
Residence 185 Queens Road, Beeston
Alma mater University College Nottingham
Spouse(s)
Margaret Elsie Wheldon (m. 1916)

Alice Maud (m. 1990)
Awards Military Medal
Territorial Decoration
Scientific career
Thesis  (1927)
Doctoral advisor Frederic Stanley Kipping

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

Early 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 to his first wife, Margaret Elsie Wheldon.[6] After her death, in 1990, he would marry to Alice Maud on 5 June of the same year, who, in turn, would die in 1998, a year before Shaw died.

He fought on the battles of Somme, Cambrai and Passchendaele, during the First World War.

In the Second World War, at the Fall of France, on June 10, 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.[7] 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.

He published several articles on pyridines, maninly in the Journal of the Chemical Society.[8][9][10][11][12][13]

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.[14][15]

The blue plaque located at the front door of its former residence at Queens Road, Beeston.

A blue plaque was installed on 16 November 2012 at his home.[16][17] As a part of the Periodic table of videos, Prof. Martyn Poliakoff and Brady Haran filmed the event.[18]

Brian 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. See http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/b.d.shaw.centenary/lecture.html

The Shaw Medal

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

References

  1. ↑ "'Official Gazette of United Kingdom', 15 August 2000". Retrieved 30 January 2015.
  2. ↑ "'Blue plaque for birthplace of Nottingham's famous explosives lecturer', 5 March 2015". Retrieved 16 March 2015.
  3. 1 2 3 4 "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. 1 2 Robin Mackie (2004). "Shaw, Brian Duncan (1898-1999)". The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/73575.
  7. ↑ "Ten weeks in hiding". Nottingham Evening Post. 1 February 1941. p. 5. Retrieved 22 March 2015.
  8. ↑ Shaw, B. D. (1923). "CCXLIX.?Bromination of aliphatic acids". Journal of the Chemical Society, Transactions. 123: 2233. doi:10.1039/CT9232302233.
  9. ↑ Shaw, B. D. (1924). "CCXLV.?Fission of the pyridine nucleus during reduction". Journal of the Chemical Society, Transactions. 125: 1930. doi:10.1039/CT9242501930.
  10. ↑ Shaw, B. D. (1924). "CCCXIX.?2 : 6-Distyrylpyridine and its derivatives". Journal of the Chemical Society, Transactions. 125: 2363. doi:10.1039/CT9242502363.
  11. ↑ 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. doi:10.1039/CT9252700215.
  12. ↑ 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. doi:10.1039/JR9300000504.
  13. ↑ 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.
  14. ↑ Jones, David (28 November 1985). "Still going down like a bomb". New Scientist: 62–63. Retrieved 22 March 2015.
  15. ↑ Exploding Pianos - Periodic Table of Videos on YouTube. Retrieved 22 March 2015.
  16. ↑ "Blue Plaques: The Southern Broxtowe Blue Plaque Scheme progress to 14 November 2014"
  17. ↑ "Blue Plaques"
  18. ↑ Explosives Legend - Periodic Table of Videos on YouTube. Retrieved 16 March 2015.
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