Ilford and the Xray
Part One - World War Two
By Daisy Marsh
In January 1907, the Board of Ilford Limited announced that they were offering a reward of £100 to the employee who developed the first x-ray photographic plate.
Although outcry from the research department resulted in the reward’s withdrawal, the initial gesture suggests that the Board had identified early on that the x-ray market was going to be lucrative and important. By the end of World War Two, this initial instinct would have been proven correct, surprisingly enough with a little help from the war itself.
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Ilford launched an x-ray plate in September 1907, and by the end of 1918 they had developed x-ray film. In 1935, the Department of Radiography and Medical Photography was opened at Tavistock House in central London to run training courses and test new products. All of these ventures were moderately successful, but Ilford sources suggest that World War Two was the catalyst which led to their x-ray products and services being in huge demand. Tavistock House in particular is described as ‘blaz[ing] under the impact of war into unprecedented splendour and activity.’
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When war broke out in September 1939, photography was declared an essential industry and was therefore subject to government control. Research projects were abandoned in favour of research in to improving the emulsions used for aerial photography. Rather than restricting the development of x-ray film, this resulted in improvements; the ‘Red Seal’ film, a film with improved emulsion which resulted in finer definition whilst allowing for a lower dosage of x-rays, was created.
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Tavistock House was key to Ilford’s centrality in the wartime x-ray market. On the outbreak of war many qualified radiographers were called up, leaving huge numbers of vacancies. Tavistock House’s facilities and staff were used to train a new workforce to deal with civilian casualties and routine hospital work. This training eventually evolved into the Diploma for the Society of Radiographers which continued being awarded after the war. During the war, however, it ensured the demand for Ilford products by planting the company at the centre of training the workforce, and thereby maintaining their market.
The biggest boost to Ilford’s x-ray production, however, was the role that Tavistock House played in the Mass Miniature Radiography Program. In 1939, they carried out a survey on behalf of the Ministry of Health with the assistance of the Norwegian Medial Service in exile. It involved screening 23,000 Norwegian servicemen for pulmonary tuberculosis using 35mm (also known as miniature) film. This technique enabled the radiograph to be recorded on a small piece of film, which made scanning a lot of people much cheaper. The process of screening was also quicker, as was the process of development, meaning more people could be screened in a shorter space of time. Screening on a mass scale was therefore established as a successful and economical technique – an important development as wartime conditions were increasing the cases of TB amongst the civilian population. Over 40 teams were then trained at Tavistock House and sent out all over the country to carry out screening. The foundations of the use of the same technique in hospitals were also laid, and Ilford and their products were at the centre of the development, the mass nature of this program alone resulting in a huge increase in demand.
The British Army in North Africa 1943. A soldier undergoing an X-ray prior to plastic surgery at No.4 Maxillo-Facial Surgical Unit, at 34th General Hospital in Algiers, 4 November 1943. Copyright Creative Commons.
Company and press sources claim that when the war was over, Ilford could claim to dominate the British x-ray market, with over 60% of business. Factories were struggling to keep up with demand due to the mass nature of x-ray screenings and the central role Ilford played throughout the war. This would lead to problems in its own right, but at the time, the benefit to the business would have made that original £100 for the initial invention seem well worth it!
Sources:
Draft of ‘Our First 75 years’ A J Catford
Booklet on Ilford Radiographic Department
Ilford 1879 – 1979 published by Ilford Limited, Basildon, 1st January 1979
Various cuttings from the press during the war, kept in cuttings book by Ilford Limited.