Millis Jefferis

Lore & Background

Millis Jefferis was born at Merstham, Surrey on 9 January 1899, educated at Tonbridge School and the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, and commissioned into the Royal Engineers on 6 June 1918. He served in India with the Queen's Own Madras Sappers and Miners, and saw active service in the Waziristan Campaign, where he was awarded the Military Cross for gallantry while reconnoitring ahead of road construction parties. He later returned to India, served at Kabul, and designed bridges in Peshawar. He married Ruth Carolyne Wakefield in 1925 and had three sons, two of whom served in the Royal Engineers. He was promoted to captain in 1929 and major in 1938.

Reader's Guide

Jefferis's significance lies in his founding and leadership of MD1, a secret unit that produced 26 different devices during the Second World War, including the PIAT, Sticky bomb, and Limpet mine. His work on squash head and HEAT technology contributed to the development of the Blacker Bombard, Hedgehog, and the AVRE's 'Flying Dustbin' mortar. His hollow charge design, after refinement by James Chadwick, was used in the core of the plutonium bomb dropped on Nagasaki. Prime Minister Churchill regarded him as a 'singularly capable and forceful man' and recommended his promotion. Jefferis was knighted in the 1945 Prime Minister's Resignation Honours. After the war, he served as Engineer-in-Chief in Pakistan and later as Chief Superintendent of the Military Engineering Experimental Establishment, retiring with the honorary rank of major-general.

Did You Know?

• Jefferis was awarded the Military Cross for gallantry during the Waziristan Campaign in 1922.
• He was mentioned in dispatches for his efforts in the withdrawal from Lillehammer during the Norway campaign.
• MD1 was a unit of the Ministry of Supply, nicknamed 'Winston Churchill's toyshop'.
• His work on hollow charge technology was not used in the core of the plutonium bomb dropped on Nagasaki.