Collections blog

We are always on the look out for items that relate to HM Factory Gretna and its 30,000 workers (12,000 of them women) in World War One.  The Museum recently acquired this postcard which was sent with Birthday wishes to a worker staying at one of the hostels in Eastriggs during the War.

As a complete list of all the munitions workers doesn’t exist just knowing the name of another girl and which hostel they stayed in is interesting.  This is also a sentimental card which shows that friendships and Birthday celebrations continued even during the dark days of War.

Brick hostels were built to house the workers in Eastriggs and Gretna.  Each one was superintended by a matron and they were named after famous people, many of them from Scotland’s history (such as Mary Queen of Scots, Robert Bruce and Walter Scott).  Balliol House (where the recipient of this postcard lived) was on Pretoria Road in Eastriggs.  John Balliol was King of Scotland.   The photograph below shows hostels being constructed in Gretna in World War One.

The street name is also interesting, street names in Eastriggs are primarily names of places from the Empire/Commowealth (such as Sydney Road, Auckland Walk, Delhi Place and Singapore Road).  This is a lasting legacy of World War One and demonstrates how people came from all over the world to work at HM Factory Gretna.  Many of their descendants visit us today from Australia and South Africa (for example) to share their family history.   The photograph below shows Pretoria Road today.  Balliol Hostel can be seen on the right.  At the end of the War, the hostels were converted into houses and many of these original World War One buildings are still standing and lived in today.

If you would like to know more about HM Factory Gretna and the townships of Eastriggs and Gretna in World War One, we have many interesting publications in our online shop:

https://www.devilsporridge.org.uk/shop-online

This item is a scale from around the 1940’s or 50’s and has been sitting in the Museums store for a while.

It is a Salter No.50 scale which was made by Salter Housewares which was formed in 1760 in the village of Bilston, England. At this time Richard Salter, a spring maker, began making ‘pocket steelyards’, a scale like the fisherman’s scale of today.

The business thrived throughout the 1900’s and by the 1950’s employed over 2000 people, still owned by the same family in the same area. Then in 1972 the company was purchased by Staveley Industries Plc and was split into separate subsidiaries, housewares, industrial etc. relocating as required.

In the late 80’s and early 90’s Staveley was purchasing more businesses worldwide from a new ‘weighing group’ which became the Weigh-Tronix Corporation. The focus of the new corporation however was increasingly towards industrial or commercial weighing, so in February 2002, the management team at Salter Housewares Ltd, backed by Barclays Private Equity, bought the company out from the group, to concentrate on its consumer businesses.

The company then grew rapidly over the next two years and was then acquired in March 2004 by US based HoMedics company, leaders in the “personal wellness” product category. In 2006, Salter Housewares USA and Taylor Precision Products Inc (also owned by HoMedics) merged together to combine sales, marketing and distribution efficiencies to be more reactive to their changing retailer environment.

Lily Florence Curle

Born 31st July 1900 died 1980

Worked at HM Factory Gretna 1916 – 1919

Just after her 16th birthday on 31st July 1916, Lily Florence Curle (later to become Mrs Alexander Ogilvie) heard from her friends that the new munitions factory at Mossband was looking to employ female staff of all ages.

She told her father that she would like to apply for one of these new jobs, but he said she could not as there was enough work for her to do at home, with her mother in a wheelchair.

Going behind her fathers back, which must have taken great courage in those days, she applied and was successful in securing one of these new positions.

Lily had to travel by bicycle to her work at Mossband from her home at Drybeck on the Authuret Road near Longtown, which was seven miles, a round trip of fourteen miles on top of a days work. This she did willingly (as she was glad to have work) morning and night, winter and summer and was never late.

She continued working with munitions at Mossband until she had to leave in the Autumn of 1919 to get married

This clock is being kept in the Museums store, it is a wooden mantelpiece clock made by Smiths in Great Britain. We think it is from around the 1950’s but were not sure. The clock uses a coil system which means when the clock chimes the coil is struck which makes the noise.

Smiths, then called S. Smith and Sons (Motor Accessories) Ltd, entered the domestic clock market and formed a new company, Smiths English Clocks Limited, as the clock and watch division with Cricklewood as its main factory. After this Smiths acquired many other businesses such as English Clock and Watch Manufacturers of Coventry and the Enfield Clock Co. In 1935 Smiths released the synfinity which they described as “the clock that never stops”.

Smiths made many ranges of clocks from the 1930’s to the 1970’s including Catolle, Callboy, Synfinity and the Sectronic. In 1977 Smiths carried out another reorganisation of the clock and watch division which formed two separate companies, Smiths Industries Clock Co and Smiths Industries Watch Co. Then after that in 1979 Smiths ceased to produce clocks for the domestic market.

Gretna Girls – Victoria Robertson

Victoria went to work at Gretna when she was 16. She lived in Carlisle and travelled every day to the plant, by train. She worked in the Mossband section of the Plant, and she remembers that the Carlisle train used to stop at a specially built siding, adjacent to the Plant. She was accompanied on this daily trip by her mother, who worked in what she called the ‘scrub houses’

Victoria worked in the electrical maintenance department, and because of this, she was provided with a distinctive blue uniform, consisting of mop cap, battledress jacket, trousers, and an armband, bearing the letters E.D. There were between 12 and 18 girls employed in this section, and they were supervised by a man called Mr. Forster.

The Girls worked in pairs, checking and repairing light switches and electrical ranges around the various buildings. She remembers working inside one of the shops or workbuildings, where the workers were dressed in khaki trousers and jerkins.

She particularly remembers seeing the cordite coming out of the machines like spaghetti, and also recalls how strong the fumes were.

After the war, Victoria retained her interest in the electrical works, and joined the Electrical Association for Women in Carlisle.