FROM THE ARCHIVES: Secret experiments on Gruinard Island in Wester Ross
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Privately deposited collection D1258 is a series of documents that belonged to Alexander Colin Urquhart, divisional veterinary officer for the Ministry of Agriculture in Ross-shire during World War II who, in 1943, found himself dealing with a number of mysterious deaths among livestock in and around Gruinard Bay in Wester Ross.
A letter written by Mr Urquhart in February of that year asserts that the locals, unaware of why animals were dying, were nevertheless “taking all the precautions they can” by burying them in pits and fencing off the area.
In due course, it was revealed that experiments conducted by the MoD were being carried out on Gruinard Island with a view to harnessing anthrax as a weapon. Testing had started in 1942 and was thought by the MoD to be successful, seemingly passing without any issues, but by 1943 animals on the mainland were starting to show effects of disease.
The experiment had involved animals being tethered to different sites on the island to measure how deadly anthrax bombs would be. They had all died within days. After the experiment was over the carcasses were meant to be disposed of by being placed underneath a cliff that was then to be blown up, burying them in rubble. However, the blast had in fact caused some of the carcasses to float away.
After finding that anthrax had made its way to the mainland, the MoD did its best to keep the experiments secret. There were offers to compensate locals, and one document in the collection lists names of people around Gruinard Bay, providing a breakdown of the number of horses, cows, and sheep they had lost and how much compensation they would be due. One man was noted to have lost 11 animals; his losses valued at £85.12.0.
In another letter from April 1943, a member of the Porton Down team informed Mr Urquhart of their disposal methods, the possibilities of anthrax spores reaching the mainland, and suggests pushing misinformation to keep the experiments secret, proposing a fake story about of Greek sailors throwing diseased sheep overboard off while sailing up the west coast.
Later in 1943 a case of anthrax was discovered on Isle Martin. Contamination on this island, inhabited by one family and their livestock, led to fears of a wider spread. Isle Martin is roughly 10 miles from Gruinard and if spores had been carried there on the wind, then it would have passed two crofting districts in Badluarach and Scoraig. Mr Urquhart informed the ministry that the owner had heard of the “outbreaks at Aultbea but in the circumstances I was very guarded in my remarks”.
In further correspondence from 1944 it was ascertained that the Isle Martin case was the last incident documented.
Gruinard Island remained prohibited for decades after. In 1963, Mr Urquhart enquired with Porton Down about the possibility of grazing livestock on there again, and was told that even if the animals were immunised there was still the risk of them transferring anthrax when they went to sale which would be a “disaster as far as politicians were concerned.”
Protests in the 1980s by a group named Dark Harvest Commandos led to the MoD investing in efforts to decontaminate Gruinard Island, eventually leading to it being declared anthrax free in 1990.
