Gerard Lysley Derriman

Captain Gerard Lysley Derriman (January 1870 – 7 August 1915) was a British Army officer in the Grenadier Guards and chief constable of Shropshire Constabulary. He was an animal welfare campaigner known for his advocacy of humane slaughter.

Biography Derriman was born in 1870. He was the eldest son of Admiral C. H. Derriman. He married Ruth Margaret in 1907. He joined the Grenadier Guards as a second lieutenant in November 1889 after graduating from the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, and became lieutenant in December 1893. He was promoted to captain in August 1904 and was active in operations in Cape Colony, Orange River Colony and the Transvaal. He received the King's and Queen's medals with five clasps. He re-joined his regiment in 1914 and was wounded in July, 1915. Derriman is buried at the Le Treport Military Cemetery.

Animal welfare

Derriman was secretary of the RSPCA from 1905 to 1908. In 1906, Derriman invented a "humane killer" for cattle. Derriman patented the RSPCA Humane Killer in 1908. It was a 0.450 calibre free bullet firearm with a wire running down the shaft of the weapon as a trigger. From an animal welfare perspective it was seen as an improvement over other humane killers and afforded the operator a safer distance from the animal.

The RSPCA advertised Derriman's "Humane Cattle Killer" to butchers as a humane option to the poleaxe. A report on trials of the instrument held in London corporation abattoirs in 1907 by the London County Council and Metropolitan Cattle Markets concluded that "for producing unconsciousness in the ordinary animals used for food we consider it the most efficient, simple and safe appliance we have seen for the use in a slaughter-house". During 1907–1908, the RSPCA gave demonstrations of the instrument at slaughterhouses and were selling it for 40 shillings. The RSPCA stated that they did not aim to make profit out the instrument, the object was to create a weapon which would make the killing process as painless as possible.