Behind the scenes of Scottish researches into agar supply during the 1940s

Abstract

Attention is drawn to correspondence in the Sheina Marshall archive at Millport concerning wartime efforts, led by Andrew Picken Orr, to find a satisfactory substitute for Japanese agar for bacteriological and other strategic commercial uses. The practical difficulties of finding, collecting and drying the considerable quantities of red seaweed (notably Mastocarpus stellatus (syn. Gigartina stellata) and Chondrus crispus) needed for a range of applications are evident in the correspondence, as was the need for confidentiality. Research funding was also an issue. International rivalries (as between Eire and the United Kingdom) are apparent, as are inter-departmental and inter-personal frustrations at a time of national emergency. Commercial production of British agar from these seaweeds was to be undertaken by the manufacturing firm of Paines and Byrne in Middlesex. As a result of the experimental researches at Millport, royalties under that firm's protected patent for the agar production process were negotiated for Orr and Marshall.