phased out. No doubt these patents were important to Robert in a professional sense for they distributed his name internationally and independently
of Haber. But equally they stood as testament to the fact that during the war,
when the ‘Auer’ was actively supporting the German war effort, his time as an
employee there was spent ‘benignly’, working on improvements to the
manufacture of the ubiquitous, but humble, domestic ‘glow lamp’. Soon, this
fact was to assume an unexpected importance when a challenge to Robert’s
patriotism arose which, if not contested, no amount of successful patents
could ever ameliorate.
14.4 ‘The Case of Robert le Rossignol’. British
Foreign Office Notes 1916–17
59
On 31 October 1916, the American Embassy in Berlin sent the following
somewhat vague dispatch to her sister Embassy in London
60
;
AMERICAN EMBASSY
BERLIN
The American Embassy at Berlin presents its complements
to the American Embassy at London, and has the honor to
refer to an enquiry made by Mr. Robert Le Rossignol, a
chemist by profession formerly interned in Ruhleben,
but now released to Berlin for the purpose of resuming
his former occupation, whether any disapproval on the
part of the British Government exists, and whether, in
case of his eventual return to England, he would subject
himself to censure or loss of standing on this account.
Berlin October 31
st , 1916.
The detail of Robert’s original enquiry has not survived at Kew,
61 but clearly
at about the time of his patent applications in late 1916, he suddenly felt
moved to seek the approval of His Majesty’s Government (HMG) regarding
the ‘appropriateness’ of his wartime work at the ‘Auer’. The American
Embassy in London soon passed the communication to the British Foreign
Office in the following terms
60 ;
American Embassy,
292
D. Sheppard
of Haber. But equally they stood as testament to the fact that during the war,
when the ‘Auer’ was actively supporting the German war effort, his time as an
employee there was spent ‘benignly’, working on improvements to the
manufacture of the ubiquitous, but humble, domestic ‘glow lamp’. Soon, this
fact was to assume an unexpected importance when a challenge to Robert’s
patriotism arose which, if not contested, no amount of successful patents
could ever ameliorate.
14.4 ‘The Case of Robert le Rossignol’. British
Foreign Office Notes 1916–17
59
On 31 October 1916, the American Embassy in Berlin sent the following
somewhat vague dispatch to her sister Embassy in London
60
;
AMERICAN EMBASSY
BERLIN
The American Embassy at Berlin presents its complements
to the American Embassy at London, and has the honor to
refer to an enquiry made by Mr. Robert Le Rossignol, a
chemist by profession formerly interned in Ruhleben,
but now released to Berlin for the purpose of resuming
his former occupation, whether any disapproval on the
part of the British Government exists, and whether, in
case of his eventual return to England, he would subject
himself to censure or loss of standing on this account.
Berlin October 31
st , 1916.
The detail of Robert’s original enquiry has not survived at Kew,
61 but clearly
at about the time of his patent applications in late 1916, he suddenly felt
moved to seek the approval of His Majesty’s Government (HMG) regarding
the ‘appropriateness’ of his wartime work at the ‘Auer’. The American
Embassy in London soon passed the communication to the British Foreign
Office in the following terms
60 ;
American Embassy,
292
D. Sheppard