David Arthur Mort – Royal Engineers, 1st Battalion, Special Brigade (Gas Corps)

Private David Arthur Mort – Royal Engineers, 1st Battalion, Special Brigade (Gas Corps)

David Arthur Mort was born in 1896 in Morriston, the son of David Mort and Catherine Thomas, who had married in 1890 at Gorseinon.

1901 Census

According to the 1901 Census, the Mort family were living at Panybank, Clase, Llangyfelach, Swansea, where David Mort senior, aged 37, worked as a Joiner Journeyman, and his wife Catherine, aged 30, managed the home. Their children at that time were Albert V., aged 9; William B., aged 7; David A., aged 5; Thomas C., aged 3; and Trevor, aged 1. The census reflects a young, industrious family rooted in the working communities north of Swansea.

1911 Census

By the 1911 Census, the family had moved to Frondeg, Penybank, Mynydd‑bach, Landore, Swansea. David Mort senior, now 47, was employed as a House Joiner, while his wife Kate, aged 40, continued to manage the household. Several of their children were still at home: Albert, aged 19, working in a Testing Laboratory; Willie, aged 17, a Tailor’s Apprentice; David A., aged 15; Thomas, aged 13; Trevor, aged 11; and Bessie, aged 7, all of whom attended school. Also present was a servant, Beatrice Jenkins, aged 15, indicating a household of modest stability and respectability.

As a young man, David Arthur Mort enlisted and served as a Private with the Royal Engineers, 1st Battalion, Special Brigade, part of the British Army’s early Gas Corps. The Special Brigade had been formed in 1915 in response to Germany’s first large‑scale use of chlorine gas at Ypres. Britain urgently required a dedicated corps of technically skilled men capable of handling chemical agents safely and effectively. The Royal Engineers, with their scientific training and industrial expertise, became the natural home for this new and highly specialised branch. The 1st Battalion was one of the earliest and most active gas‑deployment units, responsible for the release of chlorine and phosgene gas clouds during major offensives.

The Special Brigade recruited men with industrial or technical backgrounds — miners, metalworkers, laboratory assistants, fitters, and craftsmen — making men like David Arthur Mort, from a skilled Swansea family, particularly suited to the unit. Training took place at Aldershot, Faversham, and Porton, where recruits learned to handle gas cylinders, operate release valves, construct gas emplacements, and coordinate chemical operations with infantry assaults. The work was dangerous even in training, with leaks, faulty valves, and shifting winds posing constant risks.

The 1st Battalion operated by positioning hundreds of steel gas cylinders in the front‑line trenches, burying or sandbagging them for protection, and running rubberised hoses to the parapet. On command, the valves were opened simultaneously, allowing the prevailing wind to carry the gas toward enemy lines. This required precise timing, favourable weather, and immense physical labour, all carried out under the threat of German shellfire. A single hit on a gas emplacement could cause catastrophic casualties among the Royal Engineers themselves.

David Arthur Mort
St. Sever Cemetery, Rouen, Seine‑Maritime, France credit - findagrave

In the build‑up to the Battle of the Somme, the 1st Battalion, Special Brigade, was heavily engaged in preparing gas positions along the British front. Their tasks included transporting heavy cylinders to the line, installing them under cover of darkness, camouflaging the emplacements, testing valves and hoses, and coordinating with infantry brigades. On 1 July 1916, the opening day of the Somme, the Special Brigade supported the assault with gas and smoke operations, intended to obscure German observation and disrupt enemy defences. These operations were carried out under intense artillery fire, and the work of the gas companies was exceptionally hazardous. It was during this period of intense and dangerous activity that Private David Arthur Mort was killed in action.

He is buried at St. Sever Cemetery, Rouen, Seine‑Maritime, France — a cemetery associated with the large military hospitals that served the British Expeditionary Force. Many men buried there died of wounds or illness after being evacuated from the front, suggesting that David may have been injured during the opening stages of the Somme and later succumbed to his wounds. Though the surviving details of his life are limited, David Arthur Mort’s service with the 1st Battalion, Special Brigade places him among the early pioneers of chemical warfare — men whose work was dangerous, experimental, and often carried out in secrecy. His name endures in the records of the Royal Engineers and in the quiet rows of St. Sever Cemetery, where his sacrifice is honoured.