THE new programme from the Cumbria branch of the Western Front Association takes in venues at Ulverston, Shap, Penrith and Carlisle for talks on different aspects of the First World.

Bertram Lambert - and his important role in developing the first effective mask against German poison gas - will be the subject of a talk by Dr Michael Slater on March 16.

It is being held from 7.30pm at the usual branch base of the Royal British Legion Club, on Middlegate, Penrith.

Lambert was born in Settle, Yorkshire, in 1881 and was the son of the printer James Wilcock Lambert.

In 1894, he won a West Riding Technical Exhibitions scholarship to Giggleswick School and gained first-class honours in Natural Sciences at Merton College, Oxford..

His major contribution to the British war effort was the box respirator – carried round the neck of troops in a canvas bag.

Gas was first used at the Second Battle of Ypres on April 22 1915.

The first protection against gas attacks was the gas hood or smoke helmet, a grey flannel bag soaked with chemicals which was uncomfortable to wear.

It had two eyepieces, which steamed up, and a rubber mouth valve. It could only be used once so it was always necessary to carry two.

Bertram was commissioned into the Royal Engineers, as a staff captain.

Within two months of the first gas attack he had produced the first box respirator – a tin cylinder filled with chemicals, with an air inlet valve at the bottom.

The cylinder was connected to an impervious face mask which was held in place by two elastic bands.

The cylinder contained a mixture of charcoal, permanganate and soda lime, in layers separated by gauze and was designed to filter gas from the air to make it breathable.

It was so successful that the Italians were supplied with millions of them and the Americans took large numbers before copying its design.

Bertram was promoted to the rank of major in 1916 and became chemical advisor to Headquarters Inspector-General of Communications in France.

He was twice mentioned in dispatches and awarded an OBE.

After the war ended he was awarded £12,500 by the Royal Commission on Awards and Inventions, one of few chemists to be so rewarded for their war work.

He died on July 1 in 1963.

On April at Penrith the speaker will be David Raw with the topic Blooding the Pups about the Gallipoli fued between the two generals Aylmer Hunter-Weston and Granville Egerton at Gallipoli.

On May 18 the venue is Ulverston’s Coronation Hall for a talk by Martin Purdy on the Gallipoli Oak.

The June 25 meeting is a day of talks held at the Shap Wells Hotel, near Kendal, with the title A World at War.

Stuart Eastwood, curator of Cumbria’s Museum of Military Life at Carlisle, will talk about the Salonika Campiagn; Stuart Hadaway takes the topic From Gaza to Jerusalem1917 and Dale Hjort will look at British Forces in Italy 1917 to 1918.

The talks move back to Penrith on July 20, when John Stanyard talks about Three Victoria Crosses in Two Armies, and on August 17, when Colin Campbell has the topic Engine of Destruction, 51st Division.

On September 23 an afternoon of First World War talks will be held at Cumbria’s Museum of Military History within the walls of Carlisle Castle.

The day starts at 1.30pm and the speakers are Barry Kitchener on Fallen Railwaymen of the Great War and Ruchard Lloyd on British Prisoners of War.

The next two talks return to Penrith. On October 19 John Restorick looks at the South West Africa Campaign and on November 16 Dr Paul Knight talks about The British Army in Mesopotamia.

The year ends with a Christmas meal, annual meeting and two First World War talks.

Rob Thompson will speak about Mud, Blood and Wood: Passchendaele 1917 and Bob Paterson will look at Kitchener, Last of the Iconic Heroes, or Just a Poster?

You can check details of events on the website at http://www.westernfrontassociation.com/edit-events/category/202-cumbria.html