Source: File: Explosion
at the White Lee Chemical Works Heckmondwike..jpg, Mr Fred Hartley 2014. Kirklees
Image Archive [online] Available at: <http://www.kirkleesimages.org.uk/frontend.php?keywords=Ref_No_increment;EQUALS;k000352&pos=2&action=zoom
> Accessed: 3 December 2014].
Near the town of Bradford,
The White Lea Picric Acid Works
On Wednesday 2 December,
Suffered destruction.
The factory had processed
Explosives materials of Picric acid,
In the Boer War, lying empty
After 1902 – Since the new war
Began, came Government's request,
For the old factory to be reopened,
Which it did - six weeks previously,
By new owner Henry Ellison limited.
The revived works were based
At Heckmondwike
On Hollinbank lane,
Amid the Yorkshire industrial
Landscape,
Of Woollen manufacturers,
Where local factories,
Were producing Khaki cloth,
For all the army’s uses.
Fifteen men had been employed,
Working on that fateful day.
Pressures of demand had risen,
For production of lyddite -
The process involved grinding
Acid crystals down into powder.
The store of the explosives,
Undergoing manufacture,
Being isolated from the main
Building areas - when,
For some reason,
Three Lyddite magazines
Suddenly exploded -
Killing up to ten people.
With twelve others, or more
Suffering serious injuries.
While the store of magazines,
Were well isolated,
From the main buildings -
Such was the action,
Of high concussion waves -
The effects moved beyond
The factory, to properties,
Up to twelve miles away.
The noise was heard
Beyond Heckmondwike
In Bradford, Leeds, Batley,
Halifax, Drewsbury
And at Cleckheaton.
As the density of
Yellow smoke that had
Risen in the sky, like
A balloon, slowly dispersed,
Nothing was found
Of the explosive source.
There remained a large hole,
Some yards deep and wide.
Buildings about being
Wrecked into rubble.
Machinery and girders
Were to be found, thrown
Half a mile from the site.
Taking the main force,
Was Hollinbank Terrace,
With homes destroyed,
Or tottering on foundations.
Further out, on Bell Vue road,
All the windows,
Were blown completely out,
And smashed buildings.
As terrified people rushed,
From their damaged homes.
From the factories about,
Workers evacuated
From their work, terrified -
As much as those
In Leeds city centre -
Where it was first thought,
A bomb shook the city hall.
In response came ambulances,
Doctors and rescue parties.
The sight evoking photographs,
Of battle torn Belgium towns.
At the centre of the grimagery,
Many rushed to see carnage
Of those men at the centre -
Whose remains were graphically
Seen as mangled – a body
Without limbs, while one man,
Having had his head,
Completely blown off.
The ten names of dead,
Gave a chilling feeling
Including two young brothers,
Albert Firth and his brother
Of 15, Nimrod Firth -
Both from Heckmondwike
While the exact cause,
Of the massive explosion,
That took place at 2 p.m.
Was never ascertained -
The inquest believed
The cause was a spark
From a grinding machine -
With doubt being cast
On lack of safety standards.
by Jamie Mann.
Anon.,1914. Factory Blown
Up – Many Killed and Injured. The Daily Telegraph,
[online]
3 Dec. p.10. Col.5. Available at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/11261387/Daily-Telegraph-December-3-1914.html
[Accessed:
3 December 2014].
www.spenboroughguardian.co.uk/.../disaster-that-shattered-a-community
Mann, J., 2014. 100 years Ago - Poems by Jamie Mann. [letter] (Personal
communication, 3 December 2014).
#WW1 #WW1centenary #GreatWar #WW1poem #GreatWar #ww1centenary #worldwarone
#worldwaroneremembered
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