"Memorandum to all Members of the Board from the Chairman" (Francis H Carr)

With a covering note from Frank Hartley ("I am directed by the Chairman to circulate the enclosed memorandum which he has prepared").

Carr's memorandum is dated 18 April, 1946.

The memorandum refers to TRC having reached "a crisis": "Finding that the scientific effort called for from our individual organisations was making such great demands upon our depleted staffs and equipment, we decided to eliminate as far as possible the TRC demands upon the time and work of our scientific personnel and we have brought to a standstill practically all scientific research collaboration and have chosen for the time being to collaborate in (a) sharing the cost of some extramural research, and (b) continuing to exercise some control (by supplying some intermediates and/or undertaking some biological testing) of the work of Petrow, Heilbron, Raistrick and Robinson through the Research Executive".

Carr continues by acknowledging a changed political landscape post war: "We have therefore to recognise the existence of these plans for relatively enormous expenditure on state-sponsored research and development, and this must overshadow anything we may be able to achieve by merely providing grants to research workers".

Carr concludes that "we cannot, without harm to ourselves, longer delay laying down a clearer definition of future policy .... To continue witholding such an announcement can only be misleading and incur for us criticism and odium much more disagreeable that what may result from a frank explanation of the difficulties besetting the experiment as initially conceived".

1946

1 file 5 sheets.

Copyright assigned to the Wellcome Trust