William Howard Livens, (28 March 1889 – 1 February 1964) was an engineer, a soldier in the British Army and an inventor particularly known for the design of chemical warfare 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 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, a simple mortar-like weapon that could throw large drums filled with inflammable or toxic chemicals. In World War I, 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 the Second World War.
Early life
Livens' parents were Frederick Howard Livens (1854–1948) and Priscilla Abbott. They married on 9 October 1886 at the Upton Congregational Church. Frederick Howard Livens was Chief Engineer and later Chairman of Ruston and Hornsby in Lincoln. Frederick and Priscilla had three children, William Howard and two younger daughters.
In 1903, Livens was sent to Oundle School, a famous public school located in the ancient market town of Oundle in Northamptonshire, England. While there, he enrolled in the Officer Training Corps (OTC) wherein he served with the rank of sergeant.
On leaving school in 1908, Livens went to Christ's College at the University of Cambridge from 1908 to October 1911. There he enrolled in the college OTC and served with the rank of private. He was captain of the Cambridge rifle team, he was a crack shot and made a record score in a competition with a team from Oxford University; he was also an excellent shot with a pistol.
Livens trained as civil engineer, and was for a while an assistant editor for Country Life magazine. But, when the First World War started, he joined the British Army.
First World War
Entry into service
On 4 August 1914, on graduating from the Officer Training Corps, Livens applied for a commission in the Royal Engineers. He was enrolled as a second lieutenant on 30 September 1914 and he was given a clerical post in the Motorcycle signalling section at Chatham. Livens' experience of the OTC and his enthusiasm for target shooting prepared him well for at least some aspects of Army life:
Weapons designs
Beginnings
Army life did not suppress Livens' creativity and he turned his mind to the problem of making better weapons. On his own initiative, he fitted out makeshift laboratories at his Chatham barracks bedroom and in the officers' garage. For a firing range he used vacant land near one of the old forts which overlooked the Thames estuary. Here he worked on developing flame throwers and small mortars to throw oil and gas.
Livens' inventive work was prompted by thoughts of revenge for perceived German atrocities. According to Simon Jones' book World War I Gas Warfare Tactics and Equipment, on learning of the sinking of the luxury liner RMS Lusitania in May 1915 with loss of 1,100 lives including, apparently, his wife, he vowed to kill an equal number of Germans. It was to this end that he began experimenting with gas and flame projectors of various types and continued in his work even after hearing that his wife had not, after all, been on board the Lusitania. This account cannot be literally true because Livens did not get married until 1916. Charles Foulkes, who became Livens' commanding officer and who later wrote Gas! The Story of the Special Brigade, mentions "a strong personal feeling" connected with the sinking of the Lusitania without being more specific. According to Who's Who in World War One by John Bourne, it was the first use of poison gas by the Germans at the Second Battle of Ypres on 22 April 1915 that prompted Livens' vengeful ambitions. This alternative account is consistent with Livens' later statement that he began his experimental work at the end of April 1915.