Source: File: Women
making fuse heads at the Coventry Ordnance Works. See an original image at: <http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/pathways/firstworldwar/document_packs/p_fuseheads.htm>
[Accessed 15 July 2016]
Away from male led 4th army,
Lay a base of 'women
soldiers' -
Where twelve
months previously
Had been a
stretch of cornfields,
There amid crops, poppies dipped.
There amid crops, poppies dipped.
In a movement of
construction
Had risen a purpose built
place -
The 'women’s
factory' coined
By a
correspondent, guided
By a Munitions Ministry official.
Within the
workshops hardly
A man could be
seen amid
The dominance of
women,
In overalls of
blue and khaki;
Of equal age to fighting
men.
In 'stand to' lines of benches
Young girls stood - cheery
Young girls stood - cheery
Faces under mob caps and
Whose skilful hands worked
On detonators and
fuses.
Fuse making and
filling were
Prime purpose - lining the
100 graze and 18
time fuse.
The delicacy of
their craft
Attended to as embroidery.
In place of
cotton, to coolly
Handle TNT and
mercury -
The most
dangerous part,
To screw the
finished fuse
That risked any
explosion.
Devised by the
factory owner,
A safety gig was used; a metal
Hardened globe, built
in order
To contain a blast - designed
To protect operators from harm.
With the munitions
factory
Floor broken into
'corridors,'
One operator told
how she
Dropped a
chemical of two
Grains in 1,600
detonators.
Another operator
of 1,500
Daily outputs,
measured
Powder pellets -
a further
Claim were for
detonators
Charged, to number 4000.
In close
attention to health
And safety a
woman doctor
Made a full time
presence,
To be in residence
in one
Of various
factory surgeries.
This Doctor
experimented
With the T.N.T.
elements,
To lay claim of
an antidote
Of resulting skin
infections;
Built into workers
routines.
Modern facilities had been
Provided in the purpose built
Factory - so before and after
Work the girls washed, to add
A special liquid to the water.
A special liquid to the water.
From visits to
munitions
Production sites,
the news
Continued to be
how many
Women were taking
men’s
Roles, in factory
expansions.
A works manager
stated
How, at start of
war, men
Only worked in
such shops -
Two years later
were 197
Women on production lines.
One midlands firm
who had
Employed 140 women, set
To expand, intent
to take
On another 500 women, for
Further output of
10 times.
The wagers of
these women
Workers were on
average
30s weekly, while the
most
Skilled women
could easily
Make in the
region of £4.
On a countrywide
basis was
A government scheme
in
Creations of new
arsenals;
Professional
and working
Women were all needed.
In London alone
Munitions
Ministry ran 64
centres, with
Free training in machining
Free training in machining
And engineering - applicants
Were encouraged
to join.
by Jamie Mann.
Anon.,1916. 1916. Women Soldiers - Working For Victory. The Daily Telegraph,
[online] 15 July 1916.
P.11. Col.5. Available at:
<http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/12212036/Daily-Telegraph-July-15-1916.html>
[Accessed: 15 July 2016].
Mann, J., 2016. 100 years Ago - Poems by Jamie Mann. [letter] (Personal
communication, 15 July 2016).
#WW1 #WW1centenary #GreatWar #WW1poem #GreatWar #WW1centenary
#worldwarone #worldwaroneremembered #WW1Somme
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