Dr. Cluny MacPherson

Doctor Cluny Macpherson MD
Colonel Dr. Cluny Macpherson in Egypt, September 1915
Born	(1879-03-18)March 18, 1879 St. John's, Newfoundland
Died	November 16, 1966(1966-11-16) (aged 87) St. John's, Newfoundland
Education	Methodist College (St. John’s) McGill University
Occupation	Physician, Officer
Known for	Inventor of the gas mask
Board member of	International Grenfell Association (IGA) Grenfell Association, Newfoundland St. John’s Clinical Society
Spouse(s)	Eleanora Barbara Thompson (O.B.E., Dame of Order of St. John of Jerusalem) (m. 1902–64)
Children	Emma Allison (1903–1971) Campbell Leonard (1907–1973)

Cluny Macpherson CMG FRCS (18 March 1879 in St. John's, Newfoundland – 16 November 1966) was a Physician and the inventor of the gas mask.

During the First World War the German army used poison gas for the first time, against Allied troops at Ypres, Belgium in 1915. A soldier's only protection was to breathe through a handkerchief or other small piece of fabric soaked in urine.

The first iteration of the gas mask created by Macpherson in 1915 was a 50.5 cm x 48.0 cm canvas hood, treated with chlorine-absorbing chemicals, and fitted with a transparent mica eyepiece. This was the first general issue gas countermeasure to be used by the British Army. The Rooms Provincial Museum (St. John's, NL) has the prototype of this hood as well as later version gas masks with box respirators worn by soldiers in battle.

For the box respirator, Macpherson used a helmet taken from a captured German prisoner and added eyepieces and a breathing tube. The helmet was treated with chemicals that would absorb the chlorine used in the gas attacks. This Newfoundlander's invention was the most important protective device of the First World War, protecting countless soldiers from blindness, disfigurement or injury to their throats and lungs. For his services, he was made a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George in 1918.

Macpherson received his medical education from Methodist College and McGill University. Macpherson started the first St. John Ambulance Brigade in Newfoundland after working with the St. John Ambulance Association.

Macpherson served as the principal medical officer for the St. John Ambulance Brigade of the first Newfoundland Regiment during World War I. Macpherson began researching methods of protection against the poison gas and invented the Macpherson respirator (gas mask) in 1916.

After suffering a war injury, Macpherson returned to Newfoundland to serve as the director of the military medical service and later served as the president of the St. John's Clinical Society and the Newfoundland Medical Association. Macpherson was awarded many honours for his contributions to medical science.