The Nuclear Heritage group continues to unravel and record the early history of Deep River and CRNL. A mystery has arisen about two of the early residents on Beach Avenue where houses were originally assigned by NRC to personnel who played major roles in the establishment and operation of the laboratories.
The photo seen here, taken from Joan Melvin’s book “Deep River” and credited to Hugh Carmichael, shows some of the families on Beach Avenue in 1947. The families, whose names later were well known in the community and laboratories, occupied the following houses in 1947; Laurence (1 Beach), Sargent (6 Beach), Carmichael (14 Beach) and Hatfield (21 Beach). Dr. W.E. Park, Deep River’s first Medical Officer, occupied 9 Beach with his family, while D. Kilbride was the General Superintendent of DIL and was assigned 5 Beach.
That leaves two more families in the photograph, those of Dr.Douglas Roaf and Ian Ritchie. What role did they play in Deep River and CRNL’s development? All that has been uncovered about Roaf is that he undertook some research on radioactivity with J.J. Thomson in the U.K. and was elected Duke of Westminster Student at Christ Church in 1936. He is believed to have returned to Oxford in the late 1940’s. His name is not tied to any discoveries, designs or publications from CRNL and there is no mention of his role at CRNL in any of the standard texts on NRC-AECL history nor is he listed anywhere as being part of the British delegation to CRNL. Yet his status was important enough to merit a house on Beach Avenue (believed to be 13 Beach).
Even less has been uncovered about Ian Ritchie. Apart from the presence of his family in the photo, Ian Ritchie has been traced only to two photographs. He is part of a distinguished group photographed at CRNL in 1945, and is seated in the front row of the group who bid farewell to J.D. Cockcroft and welcome to W.B. Lewis at the Byways Hotel in September 1946. Once again, the presence of his family on Beach Avenue (possibly 5 Beach) indicates an important role for Ian Ritchie but nothing else is known about his connection to NRC or Deep River.
Jim Ungrin, Artifacts Chair for the Nuclear Heritage group, would welcome any information you can provide on D. Roaf or I. Ritchie. Call 613-584-3055 or email ungrinjr@gmail.com.
