battlefield doctrine during the First World War, the concept gained interest again. At first the British and French resorted to re-issuing these ancient mortars; after modernized designs became available, the Stokes mortar in particular gained popularity. Frederick Wilfred Scott Stokes – who later became Sir Wilfred Stokes KBE – designed the mortar in January 1915. The British Army was at the time trying to develop a weapon that would be a match for the Imperial German Army's Minenwerfer mortar, which was in use on the Western Front. Stokes's design was initially rejected in June 1915 because it was unable to use existing stocks of British mortar ammunition. It took the intervention of David Lloyd George (at that time Minister of Munitions) and Lieutenant-Colonel J. C. Matheson of the Trench Warfare Supply Department (who reported to Lloyd George) to expedite manufacture of the Stokes mortar. In the last quarter of 1915, 304 Stokes mortars were produced. Only 104 of these reached the front, however, the remainder being sent to training schools. The subcontracting-out of manufacture of the mortar mounting was undertaken in February 1916. In March 1916, it was announced the light trench mortars would be controlled by Infantry Brigades. The handbook for the Stokes trench mortar was issued to the infantry in April 1916. In total, 11,331 3-inch Stokes mortars were manufactured in Britain. It remained in service into the Second World War, when it was superseded by the Ordnance ML 3 inch mortar, and some remained in use by New Zealand forces until after the Second World War. Stokes received a knighthood for inventing the modern mortar, and was given several forms of monetary reward by the Ministry of Munitions. The French developed an improved version of the Stokes mortar as the Brandt Mle 27, further refined as the Brandt Mle 31; this design was widely copied with and without license. Despite their indigenous production, out of 8,000 81 mm mortars in service with the French in 1939, 2,000 were of the original Mk. I build purchased from Great Britain. Combat use In World War I, the Stokes mortar could fire as many as 25 bombs per minute and had a maximum range of firing the original cylindrical un-stabilised projectile. British Empire units had 1,636 Stokes mortars in service on the Western Front at the Armistice. A version was used to fire smoke, poison gas, and thermite (incendiary) rounds