Womersley was enlisted for wartime service in two English military sections, during 1915 to 1917 in the
Royal Army Medical Corps and the Chemical Corps,
Royal Engineers. After volunteering to join the chemical engineers, Womersley was engaged to transport tanks of poisons toward the frontlines of battle and release
phosgene,
chlorine and other weaponised gases when the prevailing wind became unfavourable to the enemy. Womersley was involved in the earliest chemical weapon attacks on German troops during the European conflict, including the first British use at the
Battle of Loos. His later employment in Britain included a soap manufacturer and positions at the
Entomological and
Linnean Society of London. He left England for Australia in 1930 and began his life's work on insects of the Australasian region. The first position he held was for a division of the
CSIRO in Western Australia. His career included the role as resident entomologist and later honorary, and retroactively, Acarologist at the
South Australian Museum and honorary positions and president of the
Royal Society of South Australia. == Works ==