The working women of WWI: Captivating colourised photographs show the female heroes of Britain’s war effort as they set to work in factories, pits and railways more than 100 years ago
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The working women of World War One can now be seen in captivating colour as they held together the factories, pits and railways and became the conflict’s female heroes more than 100 years ago.
Remarkable shots from over hundred years ago show a welder making micro adjustments to a vital component in a Midlands aircraft works.
Munitions workers are seen carefully guiding huge missiles onto the factory floor ion the stunning collection of photographs.
Offering a firsthand look at the intricacies of the war effort at home, viewers are granted a glimpse of woman cleaning the inside of a massive 15-inch cannon.
As International Women’s Day approaches on March 8, the snapshots starkly show how females across the country pitched in before even being given the right to vote in a general election.
They stepped up to fill the gaping holes in various industries as vacancies shot up when their husbands, brothers, cousins and friends were conscripted.
The employment of married women increased sharply – accounting for nearly 40 per cent of all women workers by 1918.
Following the war’s end, many women were laid off when soldiers returned from the blood-soaked battlefields on the continent.
Those who stayed on were often expected to work for less money than their male counterparts despite doing the same job.
Flagrant workplace discrimination continued until the Second World War, when women once again stepped in to fill the shoes of the men sent away to fight in another global conflict.
Pictured: Female munitions workers guide 6-inch howitzer shells being lowered to the floor at the National Shell Filling Factory in Chilwell, Nottinghamshire in July 1917. By 1917 munitions factories, which primarily employed women workers, produced 80 per cent of the weapons and shells used by the British. Known as ‘canaries’ because they had to handle TNT which turned their skin yellow
Pictured: Workers in a rubber factory in Lancashire, September 1918 as women across the country stepped up to fill the vacancies in vital industry due to the mass conscription of British men
Pictured: A welder at work in an aircraft factory in the Midlands, September 1918, a whole decade before they were even able to vote. Cardiff electrician Royston Leonard colourised the photos and said he was shocked by the working conditions revealed in them. ‘For the girls working in the armaments factory, it was a very hard job and a lot got ill from the chemicals used in the making of the shells,’ he said
Mr Leonard, 57, who has colourised the pictures, said: ‘Women played a critical role in the UK’s war effort, without them supplying the front line then no war could have been fought. ‘I think that’s why colouring photos is so useful, people are used to colour all the time these days and tend to think of black and white shots as “art” or something other than reality’. This shot shows female war workers feeding the charcoal kilns used for purifying sugar at the Glebe Sugar Refinery Co., Greenock
Pictured: Female workers roll casks of beer across the floor at a brewery in Cheshire, September 1918 as they kept the country going while its men were at war on the continent
Pictured: A fastidious female worker inspects Mills hand grenades in 1914 in a picture since colourised by Cardiff electrician Roy Leonard in a bid to bring home the reality of war
As International Women’s Day approaches, this colourised collection of pictures shows women planing propellers for fighter planes as they built the machines the nation’s men would fly into battle
Pictured: A war worker carefully paints the roundel on the wing of an SE5A aircraft at the Austin Motor Company factory in Birmingham, September 1918
Pictured: A group of women workers employed at a Brick Works in South Wales as the First World War left factories, pits and munitions factories without any staff
Tragedy at Chilwell: Factory where 134 were killed
The National Shell Filling Factory at Chilwell began production on January 8, 1916. The facilities for employees included a Red Cross Hospital, a canteen, rest rooms, a recreation club and sports facilities.
By September 1916, the factory had produced 1million shells. At its peak, the factory employed 6,000 men and 4.000 women.
The explosion of eight tons of TNT on July 1, 1918 killed 134 workers, the majority of whom would never be identified, and wounded 250 others; five dying later of their injuries.
The cause of the explosion was believed to have been accidental – with some saying it was triggered by hot weather.
The explosion of eight tons of TNT at Chilwell (above) on July 1, 1918 killed 134 workers, the majority of whom would never be identified, and wounded 250 others; five dying later of their injuries.
Bomb workers with yellow skin: ‘Canary Girls’
Britain was facing a huge shortage of munitions on the front lines of the war in 1915, leading to what became known as the Shells Crisis.
The Government appointed David Lloyd George as munitions minister, which prompted the construction of new shell factories across Britain.
In what was Britain’s first industrial war, huge amounts of munitions were needed – but the men who dominated manufacturing jobs had left to fight.
Traditional gunpowder had been replaced by materials such as cordite and sulphur which were mixed by hand, despite being dangerous to human health. As a result, the women’s skin would break out into hives and their hair would be discoloured
So it was down to more than 600,000 women to take on roles in mills, laboratories and factories to help the First World War effort on the Home Front.
Many of the workers at WWI munitions factory in Britain were women – and they became known as the ‘Canary Girls’.
They were given this nickname because their skin turned yellow when they touched chemicals in the TNT powder which they poured into bombs.
Traditional gunpowder had been replaced by materials such as cordite and sulphur which were mixed by hand, despite being dangerous to human health.
As a result, the women’s skin would break out into hives and their hair would be discoloured.
Less well known was that the same yellow colouring would apparently happen to their children – who were dubbed the ‘Canary Babies’.