Worker of the Week: Agnes Renton

Agnes Renton in her munitions workers uniform sat on a table. This is a black and white photo from the past.

Worker of the Week is a series of blog posts which highlights the workers at H.M. Factory Gretna that our volunteers researched for The Miracle Workers Project. This project aimed to centralise all of the 30,000 people who worked at the factory during World War One and, although it may be over, our amazing research volunteers are continuing to uncover more stories about H.M. Factory Gretna workers to be added to this database. We are always looking to learn more about H.M. Factory Gretna workers. If you know anything about a H.M. Factory Gretna worker please feel free to get in touch with us by contacting info@devilsporridge.org.uk A huge thanks to our research volunteers.

This week’s Worker of the Week, is Agnes Renton, who we think might have been one of the longest living H.M. Factory Gretna workers that we have come across so far! All this information was kindly shared with us by her relatives, who also kindly popped in to visit us.

Early Life

Agnes was born on 4th October 1895.
Her friends and family knew her as Aggie.
Her parents were John McPhail and Alice McPhail (nee Telford).
John worked as an Iron Moulder.

Agnes Renton in her munitions workers uniform sat on a table. This is a black and white photo from the past.

Her family have shared a photo of Agnes in her munitions workers uniform with us, but that’s not the only insight into Agnes apperance that they’ve given us.
She had bright read hair and they also shared that:

“She was very petite 4ft 10 if I remember.
Her grandchildren named her “Tiny Nana” but she was a strong lady in character.”

Prior to working at the factory, she had lived on the Cannongate in Edinburgh.

Time at H.M. Factory Gretna

When she was 22 years old Aggie working at H.M. Factory Gretna.

(Contrary to what the name of the factory suggests the factory site actually stretched all the way from Dornock in Scotland to Longtown in England. The townships Gretna and Eastriggs were also vital to the factory. They were built to serve and facilitate those that worked there.)

From what her family have kindly shared with us she was a munitions worker and used to work at the nitrating pans.
This is were nitroglycerine was mixed with gun cotton in a paste, which Sir Arthur Conan Doyle once described as “devil’s porridge.”

Two munitions workers mixing the cordite in large nitrating pans.

Interestingly, the mixture Aggie worked with stained her hands yellow, but it washed off eventually.

She didn’t mind talking about her time working at the factory with her family.
Something else that she told her family about was an explosion which happened in one of the nearby huts while she worked at the factory and the women who delt with it receiving a medal.

Sadly, we know George Henry Pike (3), Roberta Robertson (4) and Martha Hannah Beech (5) died as result of separate explosions at the factory.

However, we are also aware of tremendous acts of bravery during incidents at the factory.
The first that springs to mind is Maud Bruce (1), during a fire at the factory she calmly stopped the blaze from spreading further.
As result of her bravery, she went on to be awarded an OBE. (1)
Could Maud be the munitions worker Agnes remembered receiving a medal after dealing with an explosion?

Another medal winner is Nora Morphet, who alongside two other munitions workers from the factory was awarded a British Empire Medal. (2)
The reason for their receipt of this medal is only given as “for courage and high example in continuously working long hours in poisonous atmosphere which habitually affected her health” in the the Yorkshire Post and Leeds Intelligencer of Thursday 2^nd May 1918. (2)
Although, we have found no further information as to why these three munitions workers were chosen above all others for this honor. Could it be that they also helped during an explosion at the factory? If so why wouldn’t their brave actions have been reported in the newspaper in more detail? Or have we just not come across it yet? What do you think?

Married Life

Following World War One, Agnes married Alexander Renton.
Alexander had been in the Battle of the Some and had been shot in the head at Ypres, but survived!
After this, Alexander returned to working as a famer. This was his occupation when he married Aggie.
Later, Alexander went on to become a railway porter.

During World War Two, Aggie worked in the North British Hotel in Edinburgh.
Wealthy and important people stayed at this hotel, but Aggie wasn’t otherwise involved in War work.

Further Travels

That’s far from all that Agnes did though!
She travelled widely.
We know she went to Canada, America and Australia to visit relatives.
As well as that she went on several cruises, “the last when she was 80 years old” according to the information her relatives have kindly shared.

During one of these cruises, she was involved in a cruise line version of “What’s My Line?” (6)
This is a game show were a panel were challenged to guess the job Agnes did.
Can you guess what? Aggie won!
No one could work out Aggie’s clues of her stirring the devil’s porridge.
Although, “What’s my Line? was a TV game show (6), Aggie only appeared in the cruise ship version, but we don’t think she needs to be on TV to be a star. (One core thing our museum focuses on is H.M. Factory Gretna and the people who worked there, so maybe we’re slightly biased on that point… but she still sounds like a star to us! )

Not only that, but in 1995 Agnes celebrated her 100th Birthday!
Off the top of our head, we’re only aware of one other munitions worker in connection to H.M. Factory Gretna who did that.
Maud Bruce lived until 100 years old, after her time working at the factory and later at Aycliffe in World War Two. (1)

Meanwhile, Agnes Renton lived until she was 102 years old.
Could she be the longest living person who worked at H.M. Factory Gretna? Quite possibly.
What do you think? Is there anything you’ve spotted we’ve missed?
Ultimately, we don’t have a comprehensive list of all those who worked at the factory. This means there’s some things we might never know for sure, but that makes us all the more grateful for relatives like Agnes’ who kindly share information with us and for their patience in the meantime.

Sources and Further Information

A huge thank you must go to Aggie’s relatives for kindly taking the time to share this information and photograph with us! Most of the information in this blog comes from them.

Find Agnes Renton’s Online Database Entry by clicking here>

Do you have a relative who worked at H.M. Factory Gretna? We would love to hear from you! Please feel free to contact us by emailing info@devilsporridge.org.uk. You never know maybe your relative could feature in a future Worker of the Week blog post! You can also have a look at some more H.M. Factory Gretna workers on our online database here>