Hugh Quentin Alleyne Reeves (1909-25 October 1955) was a British inventor and engineer. He was one of the most productive and creative engineers attached to Station IX the SOE research station during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

A_Welrod_9mm_pistol_on_display_at_the_Imperial_War_Museum_in_London

Reeves was born at Seaford

Sussex Sussex (), from the Old English (), is a historic county in South East England that was formerly an independent medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdom. It is bounded to the west by Hampshire, north by Surrey, northeast by Kent, south by the English ...

. His first prep school was

West Downs School West Downs School, Romsey Road, Winchester, Hampshire, was an English independent preparatory school, which was established in 1897 and closed in 1988. History Founding The school was founded by Lionel Helbert (1870–1919), with help from hi ...

Winchester Winchester is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city in Hampshire, England. The city lies at the heart of the wider City of Winchester, a local government Districts of England, district, at the western end of the South Downs Nation ...

but he transferred to

St Cyprian's School St Cyprian's School was an English preparatory school for boys, which operated in the early 20th century in Eastbourne, East Sussex. Like other preparatory schools, its purpose was to train pupils to do well enough in the examinations (usuall ...

Eastbourne Eastbourne () is a town and seaside resort in East Sussex, on the south coast of England, east of Brighton and south of London. Eastbourne is immediately east of Beachy Head, the highest chalk sea cliff in Great Britain and part of the la ...

. He then went to Harrow and

Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge Sidney Sussex College (referred to informally as "Sidney") is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in England. The College was founded in 1596 under the terms of the will of Frances Sidney, Countess of Sussex (1531–1589), wife ...

. During World War II Major Reeves was attached to Station IX, where he invented both the

Welrod The Welrod is a British bolt action, Magazine (firearms), magazine fed, suppressor, suppressed pistol devised during the Second World War by Major Hugh Reeves at the Inter-Services Research Bureau (later Station IX). Station IX, being based near ...

and the sleeve gun (similar to the Welrod, though single shot and intended to be concealed up a sleeve), as well as designing the

Motorised Submersible Canoe The Motorised Submersible Canoe (MSC), nicknamed Sleeping Beauty, was built by the British Special Operations Executive (SOE) during World War II as an underwater vehicle for a single frogman to perform clandestine reconnaissance or attacks ag ...

. He was also, among others, behind the silencer for the

Sten gun The STEN (or Sten gun) is a family of British submachine guns chambered in 9×19mm which were used extensively by British and Commonwealth forces throughout World War II and the Korean War. They had a simple design and very low production cost ...

, fluorescent night sights, the

Welgun The Welgun was a prototype submachine gun developed by the British irregular warfare organisation, the Special Operations Executive. Although it performed well in tests, it was never adopted, and was produced in small numbers only. Development Wh ...

and the Welbum propulsion system. This was made clear in a document that was produced at the end of the war to ensure that the correct people were credited for their inventions. Reeves continued inventing after the war with patents for ''Improvements in Diving Equipment'' in 1950 and ''Wheel holding chocks for Aircraft'' in 1955.

Death

Reeves was involved in a project to reduce noise in jet engines. While carrying out tests at

RAF Bitteswell Royal Air Force Bitteswell or more simply RAF Bitteswell is a former Royal Air Force satellite station located west of Lutterworth, Leicestershire and north of Rugby, Warwickshire, England. Construction of the grass airfield at RAF Bitteswell ...

on a Hawker Hunter F.5 fitted with a Sapphire engine, he was suddenly drawn into the intake of the silencer and was killed.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Reeves, H Q A 1909 births 1955 deaths People educated at Harrow School People educated at St Cyprian's School Alumni of Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge 20th-century British inventors Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in England