Catalogue Number
NMLH.2021.151
Object Name
Poster
Title
Portfolio collection - Ken Sprague "We choose to work at Porton."
People
Ken Sprague
Events
Porton Down experiments
Date
1969
Description
Ken Sprague is a key figure in British left-wing poster art, an overtly political artist and supporter of the labour movement. He was concerned with how politics affects the ordinary person. He did illustrations and posters for the Communist Party, Several trade unions, the Daily Worker, for Martin Luther King and the 1984 Miners strike. His most famous work was his anti-war illustrations and prints - he documented the Soviet Invasion of Czechoslovakia, the Iran-Iraq War and the Kosovo war. The portfolio is made of card, is a2 and has yellowed paper. This portfolio is labelled "we choose to work at Porton." There is an image of a factory worker with agas mask on and gloves. These prints are silk screened - there are six prints inside. "Porton" is referring to Porton down- the UK government's biological warfare research station. This portfolio is critical of the government and its use of this research station - which has been shrouded in secrecy and accusations of animal abuse,
human experiments, long-term damage on humans, and other dangerous experiments. Porton down was founded in 1916, and is the oldest chemical warfare research installation in the world. It's one of the most secretive and controversial military research facilities. Most well known for dangerous nerve gas experiments on humans. These experiments were justified by the fact that the data has allowed Britain to develop defences against chemical attacks, as well as development of nerve gases. From 1945-1989, Porton exposed more than 3,400 human "guinea pigs" to nerve gas - some guess that Porton has tested more human subjects with nerve gas,for the longest period of time, than any other scientific establishment in the world. Nerve gases were first developed as weapons by the Nazis. In April 1945, the British discovered stocks of the gas in Germany. Within two weeks, Porton had tested the new gas on batches of human subjects, even though they did not know what the unknown compound was or how it
harmed the body. The chemical Sarin was consistently tested and experimented on human subjects and workers. The UK has ratified the Chemical Weapons Convention, which obliges all 192 members to destroy their chemical weapons stockpiles. But Porton Down does produce small amounts for research.
"To help develop effective medical counter-measures and to test systems", it says, "we produce very small quantities of chemical and biological agents. "They are stored securely and disposed of safely when they are no longer required". The spectre of chemical weapons has never gone away. Chlorine, Sarin and mustard gases have all been used in Syria's civil war. Porton have also done experiments and trails in different areas, such as releasing anthrax spores in Gruinard Island in 1942, and a similar experiment in Lyme Bay. Due to Britain's colonial empire, they sent biological warfare scientists to other countries for gas experiments - in 1954 the British government sent biological warfare scientists to the Bahamas to release dangerous gases near an un-inhabited island. There were also scientific missions in Nigeria, in which British scientists dispersed and assessed the effects of nerve gases - the experiment was very secret and there is not much information or files on Britain's
post-war nerve agent testing in Nigeria. The Rawalpindi experiments were experiments involving use of mustard gas carried out by scientists from Porton Down of the British military on hundreds of Indian soldiers. Evidence shows that under British colonial rule, for over 10 years before and during WW2, in a military installation in Rawalpindi (now in Pakistan), experiments were conducted to find out if âmustard gas inflicted greater damage on Indian skin compared with British skinâ, as a team of Porton Down scientists were posted there to develop poison gases for use against the Japanese. The statement "we choose to work at Porton" is emphasising the atrocities that took place at Porton Down, in that people actively chose to work there and engage in their experiments, the bad treatment of the workers, as well as the pressures to work in such dangerous conditions. This version of the portfolio does not have a preface, but online there are images of his collection, which include a
short preface. This says "A great many years ago an artist made a wood engraving of a rat. It was used on posters to encourage people to co-operate with the rat catcher in stopping the spread of the disease. The old block came into my possession about the time we all learned that rats were being used at Porton Down in the production of chemical and bacteriological weapons. It seemed to me acutely ironical that an animal once destroyed as the carrier of the plague was now being used in its deliberate manufacture. I produced the enclosed prints after seeing television interviews with some of the people working at Porton. Each print includes in its design an impression taken from the original old engraving. Financial problems prevented me issuing the series at that time but recent news that nerve gas made at a factory in Cornwall is transported by lorry, along public roads, to Porton down prompts me to publish the series and thereby add my voice to those people who demand to know - if,
as our government says, "it's all for defensive purposes" - where then is our defence? Do our doctors have the means of treating us, assuming that they can be reached in time? Can we be told where to get protective clothing for our children? Gas masks for our wives? Quite apart from the moral implications involved! Ken Sprague - August 1969 19 Canonbie Road. London. SE23." Portfolio is good conditions. Will be in part numbers, starting with 151.
