One of the gas masks which we have on display within the Museum is a kids Mickey Mouse gas mask from WW2. These masks were desinged to look like Mickey Mouse to appeal more to children and to encourage them to wear them. Children were asked to keep their masks within reach at all times, which meant they had to take them to school stored in a box with string on it to go over the child’s shoulder, they also had to keep them next to their bed at night and when they were doing general activities in the event of a sudden German gas attack. Kids were sometimes told to wear the masks in class while they were at school, presumably to get the children more used to wearing them so they wouldn’t struggle or refuse to put them on in the event of a gas attack. 10 million of these masks were made and distributed in 1938 in the event of the outbreak of war.
On display with the Childs Mickey Mouse gas mask is a gas mask for babies which is designed to cover the top half of the child and strap around them like a nappy which allows means only their legs are exposed. These gas masks were issued to every child up to 2 years old in 1938 when all citizens were issued a gas mask in the event of an outbreak of war. These gas masks were tied securely which made it air-tight, and had a big visor so that the child could see out of it. These gas masks were fitted with an asbestos filter which absorbed poisonous gas, attached to this was a rubber tube with a handle which was used to pump air into the mask which would be used by the child’s parent or any other adult present. Many paretn doubted these masks as they were very skeptical about putting their child in a completey air tight mask. There were also reports that during demonstrations babies fell asleep and became unnaturally still inside the masks. It is likely that the pump didnt push enought air into the mask and the babies came close to suffocating, luckily this was never put to the test.
These two gas masks were made safe by a professional from Kadec Asbestos Management with some of the other gas masks we had kept in the Museums store cupboard. This was kindly funded by Museums Galleries Scotland and allows us to better our Museum collection by making the gas masks we have in our possession safe for public viewing and for staff who work with the objects.
The Devils Porridge Museum collects and displays objects relating to World War One and Two and objects relating to the military and industrial heritage of our area after 1945 (including Chapelcross Nuclear, Scotland’s first Nuclear Power Station). This inevitably means that we have a large collection of gas masks in our collection. These objects are precious social records of wartime experiences but they also contain asbestos in the filter (it wasn’t known at the time the damage that asbestos dust can do to the respiratory system).
We’re very pleased to have received funding from Museums Galleries Scotland to manage the asbestos in our gas mask collection. This has enabled us to hire a professional from Kadec Asbestos Management to work with the objects and make them safe. Bill, from Kadec, has been at the Museum for the past two days and yesterday he spoke with two of our young employees, Desray and Alastair, about his work. Desray and Alastair are completing their SVQ Level 3 in Museums and Galleries Practice. Some of the units focus on collection care and this was a good opportunity for them to find out about the work of external consultants within the Museums sector.
The Museum offers opportunities for training and volunteering to all members of our community, if you’d like to find out more about our work, email: info@devilsporridge.org.uk or phone: 01461 700021.
This postcard from WW1 shows HMS Iron Duke and Admiral Jellicoe. Admiral of the fleet John Rushworth Jellicoe, 1st Earl of Jellicoe was a Royal Navy Officer. He fought in the Anglo-Egyptian War and the Boxer Rebellion and commanded the Grand Fleet at the Battle of Jutland in May 1916 during the First World War. His handling of the fleet at that battle was controversial. Jellicoe made no serious mistakes and the German High Seas Fleet retreated to port, at a time when defeat would have been catastrophic to Britain, but the public was disappointed that the Royal Navy had not won a more dramatic victory given that they outnumbered the enemy.
HMS Iron Duke served as the flagship of the Grand Fleet during the First World War, including at the Battle of Jutland. There, she inflicted serious damage on the German Battleship SMS König early in the main fleet action. In January 1917, she was relieved as fleet flagship. After the War, Iron Duke operated in the Mediterranean as the flagship of the Mediterranean Fleet. She participated in both the Allied Intervention in the Russian Civil War in the Black Sea and the Greco-Turkish War. She also assisted in the evacuation of refugees from Smyrna. In 1926, she was assigned to the Atlantic Fleet, where she served as a training ship.
Iron Duke remained on active duty for only a few more years; in 1930, the London Naval Treaty specified that four Iron Duke-class battleships be scrapped or otherwise demilitarised. Iron Duke was therefore converted into a gunnery training ship; her armour and much of her armament was removed to render her unfit for combat. She served in this capacity until the outbreak of the Second World War in September 1939, when she was moored in Scapa Flow as a harbour defence ship. In October, she was badly damaged by German bombers and was run aground to avoid sinking. She continued to serve an anti-aircraft platform for the duration of the war, and was eventually refloated and broken up for scrap in the late 1940’s.
Nieuport 11c1
The Nieuport 11 entered service with the Aviation Militaire in the summer of 1915. A small, single-seat biplane which quickly earned the nickname of ‘Bebe’ it was also used by the RNAS and from March 1916 served with the RFC on the Western Front providing more than a match for the Fokker monoplanes. The Macchi Company built 640 in Italy where they became standard fighters and were also used in Albania. Others served in Belgium and Russia.
Sopwith 1 ½ Strutter
This aircraft was used extensively during the Great War by the RNAS, RFC, French, Belgian and United States air services on a range of duties whcih included fighter-reconnaissance, bombing, ground attack, coastal patrol, anti-submarine work and photo reconnaissance. It operated on the Western Front, in Macedonia, Italy, the Aegen area and Russia and was flown from aircraft carriers, battleships and battle cruisers. the 1½ Strutter was the first British service aircraft with an efficient syncronised forward-firing armament. About 1500 were built by eight British manufacturers and some 4500 completed by the French.
Hannah was a munitions worker at Gretna from 1917 to 1918. She heard about the plant from a friend, and they both signed up together, in Tudhoe, which is near Spennymoor.
The two travelled by train to the plant, and were initially billeted in a hut with several other girls from the North East of England. She remembers that a lot of the girls came from Sunderland. Unfortunately the hit was not wind and watertight, and many of the girls began to have serious doubts about their decision to come to the plant. However, the next day, they were moved to a complex of huts which varied in size, but which were connected by a communal dining hall. The food provided as of a very hight standard, but the constant repetition of kippers for breakfast led to a half day strike by the girls, until this was varied.
Hannah was given a works number, 3-11-39, and was sent to work in the gun cotton plant. There were two sections of this plant, which included a wet and dry area. Her strongest memories are of the drying out process, in which the cotton was removed from the large zinc pans and placed in bags.
This was a dusty job, and the workshop had to be continually hosed down. As a result, the girls were provided with rubber boots, and face masks. Due to the impregnation of this dust, on to their clothing, immediately after the shift had finished, the girls’ trousers and tunics were replaced.
After a while, Hannah became a chargehand, and supervised a group of girls, including some Gaelic speakers from the Islands. Her main task was to teach them how to dry the cotton. Included in this job was also a section about training in fire fighting by the local Fire Briagde, and the girls were taught to handle hoses, scale ladders etc.
Hannah also remebers that she was supervised in turn by a femal supervisor, who was provided with a distinctive khaki uniform, consisting of a wide brimmed hat, belted jacket, skirt and tie, with a shirt and dark stockings, and shoes.
Many of the girls obtained late passes, and travelled to Carlisle and Dornock, to attend dances and variety shows. Moreover the girls often entertained each other by producing their own shows, with each girl doing a turn. There were also sporting events, such as the Dornock Hockey Team.
Hannah worked at the plant throughout the running down period of 1919, and then returned to Spennymoor, where she went into domestic service prior to her marriage.
We are now doing activities during the October holidays!
The Activities will run in a two week block with the first week being called history week with the clubs being themed around history and the second week will be themed around Halloween with the week finishing with the Halloween Haunted House (booking required) . The activities throughout the week are all drop in sessions (no need to book) which will last for 10-15 minutes which allows children time to regroup with their families going around the Museum etc. The full list fo activities is below.
If you would like any more information on the holidays activities or if you would like to book a space for the Halloween Haunted House please email: steven@devilsporridge.org.uk or phone: 01461 700021.
This WW1 Trench Art from the Museums store shows what soldiers could create with used objects while they were stuck in the trenches.
The first item is an Ash Tray which has been made from the bottom of a shell. As you can see some of the pieces of the shell have been melted and folded outwards to fit cigarettes in them.
The next item is what we think is a lamp or heater. But could also possible be another ash tray looking at the design.
Trench art is any decorative item made by soldiers, prisoners of war or civilians where the manufacture was directly linked to armed conflict or its consequences. It offers an insight into not only their feelings and emotions about the war, but also their surroundings and the materials they had available to them.
Not limited to the World Wars, the history of Trench Art spans conflicts from the Napoleonic Wars to the present day. Although the practice flourished during World War One, the term ‘trench art’ is also used to describe souvenirs manufactured by service personnel during World War Two. Some items manufactured by soldiers, prisoners of war or civilians during earlier conflicts have been retrospectively described as trench art.
Welcome to the Devils Porridge Museum Podcast!
The Devils Porridge Museum Podcast has been created as part of an inter-generational oral history project. The project is now available for you to listen to online.
Through conversations and interviews, our volunteers and others from the local community will be sharing their personal stories and memories with The Devils Porridge Podcast Team.
In this weeks podcast we talked to David Dutton about Oswald Mosely and fascism in South West Scotland. David was meant to give a talk at the Museum about this subject but it was cancelled due to COVID-19 so we decided to get him on the podcast to tell his story instead!
At least in the early part of the decade Fascist ideas were not entirely beyond the political pale. Recent research suggests that the BUF made some progress in Scotland and that the south-west of the country was briefly a Fascist success story. Against this background this talk assesses the visits to Dumfries made by Sir Oswald Mosley and his Director of Propaganda, William Joyce, later notorious as Lord Haw-Haw.
If you would like to get involved in the project to share your own stories and memories or if you would like to find out more about joining our production team please contact: steven@devilsporridge.org.uk
You can listen to the Podcast below: