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Gretna Township Education Authority certificate.

Gretna School Certificates

By Collections blog

While looking through our items in the Museum store we stumbled upon some old certificates from the Gretna Township Primary School from the 1920’s just after the First World War.

We also have some photos of the old school and even a photo of one of the registers from the school with some of the pupils names on it from 1917!

 

 

The certificates are all from the same person and were given to them each year. We only have three of them from 1920, 1921 and 1924.

 

 

We also have some from Annan Academy with the same name on them but we will share these at a later date.

Below you can see some of the old images of Gretna Township School which we have in our archives.

 

This is an old photo of the Gretna Township school

 

 

This is the old register for the class at Gretna Township school from 1917.

 

Watch our social media accounts to see more old photos and documents from the local area in Dumfries and Galloway!

Some of the museum's team with Easter hats on.

Easter on the Ration

By News

Everyone is familiar with the Easter tradition of chocolate eggs but what happens when chocolate and other sweet treats are rationed?

 

During World War Two, in an attempt to reduce the strain placed upon the merchant fleet and other vessels supplying Britain with food from around the world, rationing was introduced effecting all aspects of life in Britain. Cloths were rationed as was petrol, wood and other raw materials and fuel required for the war effort were also short in supply and subject to rationing, all of which came into force January 8th, 1940 just a few months after the outbreak of war.

 

However, food is probably the first thing people think of when rationing is mentioned, and all sorts of both essential and non-essential items were added to the ration list. Some food items were not rationed such as potatoes and carrots. Other fruit and vegetables that could be grown in Britain were also not subject to rationing although they did become scarce and harder to find in the shops.

 

But what about sweets and chocolate eggs for Easter? The rationing of sweets and chocolate began in July 1942. Even before chocolate rationing came into force Cadbury’s had ceased production of their ‘Dairy Milk’ as the government had banned the use of fresh milk in manufacturing in 1941, instead they produced ‘Ration Chocolate’ which was a poor substitute and definitely did not come in the form of an Easter egg! Shops sold carrot lollies and other vegetables on a stick as a replacement Easter treat.

 

The stringent rules of rationing began to be loosened in 1948 but it was not until 1953 that the rationing of sweets and chocolate was finally over. As well as sweets and chocolate: eggs, cream, butter, cheese, margarine and cooking fats were all taken off the rationed list almost a decade after the end of World War Two.

 

To celebrate the end of rationing one sweet shop in Clapham common gave 800 children 150lbs of lollipops during their midday break from school; and another London factory opened its doors to hand out free sweets to all comers. It was not just school children that delighted in the end of the restrictions, many adults queued on their lunch breaks to be able to get boiled sweets and boxes of chocolates to take home.

Castle Gateway in Carlisle on a postcard.

Old Postcards Photos of Carlisle

By Collections blog

Recently the Museum was donated lots of postcards. Some of the postcards have photos of Carlisle and the surrounding area, some have photos of Gretna (will be posted at a later date) and some have cartoons and birthday wishes etc.

 

 

Many of the postcards which we have showing Carlisle during the First World War with one even showing the Carlisle Women Munition Workers Football Team (shown below).

 

 

The two images below show the interior and exterior of the Gretna Tavern in Carlisle.

 

 

The photo below is of Warwick Road in Carlisle from 1923

 

The photo below is of the War Memorial Bridge in Carlisle

 

Recent Donation of State Management Labels

By Collections blog

These State Management labels were donated to the Museum recently and feature many different types of alcohol which would be sold at pubs in Cumbria and South West Scotland. These items belonged to a gentleman who was the Head Maltster working in State Management. He worked there from the end of the Second World War until it closed in the 1970s, these items were donated to us by his granddaughter.

The state management of alcohol scheme or the ‘Carlisle Experiment’ saw the government take over many local pubs in the First World War and stop the sale of normal alcohol to substitute it with watered down state made alcohol. This was done to try and deter people from drinking in key areas related to the war, this was done in South Scotland and Cumbria because of HM Factory Gretna (The Devils Porridge Museum tells its story). The State Management scheme lasted from 1915 until around the 1970s, we think the labels which have been donated to us may be from the late 1960’s. Below you can see some of the labels above on bottles which were donated to the Museum from the State Management Scheme which we have on display at the Museum along with a few other bottles of Brandy.

The labels which were donated are of many different types of alcohol and soft drinks.  Alcohol was controlled during state management and includes many brands which people may recognise along with a few which were produced by the Government and made in Carlisle.

 

 

Elizabeth Hunter in her munitions uniform.

Elizabeth Hunter – Gretna Girl

By Collections blog

Elizabeth (Lizzie) Hunter

Born 28 November 1893 died 20th October 1969

Worked at HM Factory Gretna 1916 – 1919

Badge No. B201047

 

Elizabeth originally trained as a dress maker in Carlisle, then began work at the factory. She commuted from Carlisle to work.

 

She had a souvenir autograph book, which was addressed to the girls in the stove room so she could have potentially worked there. Included in this autograph book was a poem written by one of the other girls.

 

Once she had finished working at the Factory, she worked at Carrs Biscuit Works in Carlisle before marrying a Presbyterian Minister in 1927 and moving around the country.

 

She had three brothers who served during WW1; two were part of the Argyle and Sutherland Highlanders with one killed in 1918 and the other wounded four times. Her third brother was part of the Royal Garrison Artillery and was awarded the Military Cross; he had been a prisoner of war, where he had a Bible and wrote in code with a pin details of the awful living conditions he faced in the camp. Unfortunately he died a month after the Armistice; the Bible was returned to his father but upon reading of his experience burned the copy so no-one else could read it.

 

 

Susan Summers

Gretna Girl – Susan Summers

By Collections blog

These are the accounts of Susan Summers when she worked in HM Factory Gretna during World War One. The article is written by her and about what her roles were at the Factory and what life was like working there.

 

When war was declared I decided to help the war effort and get a job at HM Factory Gretna. We were met at the station and taken to a large hut which was to be our home from home during our stay.

 

Our first job was stocking furnaces with sulphur. One day, a week later, we were hurried outside. I understand there was a leak of some kind and we were never sent back.

 

I was then sent to take charge of the Drying Shed. The gun-cotton was in blocks, packed in bags to be put into the drying machines. They were loaded onto a conveyor belt upstairs to the screening shed where it was ground to a powder.

 

I can remember the shed was bitterly cold and one night we had an alert. The lights in the shed went out and we were plunged into darkness. We heard afterwards that a Zeppelin had got through to Annan.

 

Then I went on a more dangerous job which was underground and there too we had an alert. Our chemist dashed in shouting, “Run girls! Run for your lives!” we did and I know I only stopped when my breath gave out.

WW1 Fireless Locomotive

By News

Outside The Devil’s Porridge Museum there stands a train, a fireless locomotive called Sir James, which was built and used in World War One. By the time it came to the Museum, it was in a rusty and poor state of repair.  The Museum spent a lot of time and money restoring the engine and it is now one of our most popular displays.

 

This engine was used to transport the ‘devil’s porridge’ paste through HM Factory Gretna (the greatest munitions factory on earth at that time, it stretched nine miles from Dornock in Scotland to Longtown in England).  The paste was made into cordite, a propellant in the English side of the Factory.  Cordite went inside all the bullets and shells used in World War One.

 

Sir James is an unusual locomotive.  It is powered by steam but there is no fire inside.  This was a safety precaution as the Factory produced explosive material and the train was used to transport it.  There was a genuine concern that there might be a major explosion (there were several fires and explosions here during World War One but the safety record was remarkably good given that 30,000 people worked at the Factory in total and we know of only twelve deaths directly attributable to accidents).

 

Sir James was built by Andrew Barclay of Kilmarnock, Scotland and in World War One, it would have been charged up with steam from an external boiler before setting off.   For these locomotives to work, it was necessary to have three charging stations en route to maintain pressure.  These ‘crazy green and brown patchwork’ camouflaged fireless locomotives could pull ten loaded wagons and return the empty wagons on one charge of steam.

At the end of the War, the Factory eventually closed and much of the machinery was sold off.  Sir James was sold in 1924 to the Metropolitan Electric Power Supply Company at Brimsdown Generating Station and then in 1975 to the Lakeland and Haverthwaite railway before joining us at the Museum and being restored to its former glory in 2011.

If you enjoyed this article you might be interested in the following items from our online shop…

HM Factory Gretna’s Unique Railway System Booklet

Sir James Postcard

A group of munition workers in there uniforms.

Carlisle Girls

By Collections blog

People may think that The Devil’s Porridge Museum is just about Scotland but it isn’t as the women who worked there (and there were 12,000 of them) came from across Britain especially from Northern England including Carlisle and Cumbria.

A group of girls in their factory uniforms including Jane Jackson born 1899 from Carlisle

We have dozens of accounts and photos of the so-called ‘Gretna Girls’ mainly provided by family members. Lots of friends and sisters seem to have travelled to HM Factory Gretna to seek work together. Two such sisters were Grace and Margaret Hodgson from Carlisle.

Grace Hodgson aged 21 from Morton Street Carlisle

In 1916, Grace worked in the laundry at HM Factory Gretna. She would have cleaned the uniforms of the girls but also their bedding, towels and other household items. The Factory didn’t just provide work, it also housed many of the girls in purpose built hostels in Eastriggs and Gretna.

Girls working in the laundry at HM Factory Gretna

Grace’s sister, Margaret, aged 19, also obtained a job at the Factory for a number of months. She was employed in the sewing room where she mended the worker’s uniforms. The sewing room also doubled up as a welfare or rest room so Margaret would have seen girls passing out as a result of the toxic fumes they inhaled. One writer described girls rolling around on grass as though drunk because of their exposure to the chemicals needed to produce cordite (also known as the devil’s porridge).

A rest room for the female workers in the factory

In later years, Margaret spoke of seeing girls working at the Factory who had yellow skin, sometimes their skin was a very bright yellow which is why they came to be nicknamed ‘The Canary Girls’.

Group of female factory workers including Ada Annie Thompson from Carlisle

At the start of the War, Margaret had worked at The Atlas Works in Carlisle. She was employed to make shirts for the army. She and fifteen of her friends left after a dispute about pay. They left to work at HM Factory Gretna as it was offering higher wages. The owner of the Atlas works had to increase the wages he was paying because he couldn’t fulfil orders – so many girls were leaving to work at the Factory just a few miles away. This is just one of the fascinating accounts the Museum has.

A lot of women were attracted to munitions work for the pay and because they were patriotic

If you would like to find out more about the lives of women working at HM Factory Gretna, this publication is available from our online shop:

Lives of Ten Gretna Girls booklet

J C Burnham

John Charles Burnham

By Collections blog

John Charles Burnham was responsible for keeping the greatest factory in the world operating smoothly which he accomplished every day he was there as the factory helped Britain win the war by producing the most cordite out of any factory in the whole world. When leaving the Factory Burnham left behind a meticulous record of his work in the form of a Factory Manuel which is now in the National Archives.

The picture above shows Burnham walking behind the two men, one being King George when he visited HM Factory Gretna.

Owens College, Manchester

J C Burnham studied at Owens College in Manchester from 1885 – 89 and graduated in 1888 with a Bachelor of science, in the first class and was elected an Associate of the College in the same year. In 1889 he became an assistant chemist under Kellner at Woolwich, Arsenal and while holding that position also acted for some years as Assistant Chemist to the Special Committee of Explosives, under the Chairmanship of Sir Frederick Abel. In 1894 he proceeded to India, where he was for five years as a chemist in charge of an experimental cordite factory at Kirkke, before he was appointed manager at the Government of India Explosives factory, Nilgiris. His advice was sought by the government on many occasions, and his services were recognised by the award of the C.S.I. In 1915 he was loaned to the Ministry of Munitions and became Director of the Board of Management and Superintendent at HM Factory Gretna, a post which he held until 1921. In the following year he was appointed General Works Manager of British Dyestuffs Corporation, Manchester and retired in 1924.

This is one of the factories which Burnham worked in before being moved to HM Factory Gretna

 

We’re not sure what Burnham’s role was in the invention of cordite but he did work under Sir Frederick Abel who was one of the people credited as the inventor of cordite. Cordite was the propellant which was made in HM Factory Gretna and that was used in the shells which were made in WW1 and was invented in 1889 by Sir James Dewar and Sir Frederick Augustus Abel and later saw the use as the standard explosive of the British Army.

WW1 Bugle from Quintinshill

By Collections blog

 WW1 Bugle

This Bugle belonged to John Malone who died in the train crash at Quintinshill in 1915

At only 16, he was too young to go into active service at Gallipoli (the age limit was 17) but he was travelling as part of the regimental band which would play a musical farewell to the troops at Liverpool.

We have a display within The Devil’s Porridge Museum of objects and information relating to the Quintinshill rail disaster and in December (when the Museum was closed), we added two new objects to it. One is a seven foot long sign which formally stood at Gretna Green station and the other is a Signal Box showing the route of the trains involved in the fatal collision at Quintinshill at 6.49am on May 22nd 1915.

On that fateful day, a troop train carrying Royal Scots soldiers destined for Gallipoli collided with a stationary train at Quintinshill, near Gretna Green. Shortly after the crash the wreckage was struck by an express train from Carlisle, which sparked a catastrophic fire. This horrific accident killed at least 227 people and injured over 200; only seven officers and 57 soldiers survived the crash, of whom five went on to Gallipoli to face the machine guns of the entrenched Turks. This is still the worst rail disaster in British history.

Quintinshill Rail disaster

The Museum has several objects of significance connected to the Quintinshill rail disaster including a rifle which was bent out of shape by the heat of the fire. There are heart wrenching accounts of trapped soldiers in the train begging to be shot because of the excruciating pain caused by the flames.

We also have a nurse’s uniform from the time of the crash. Patients were taken to Dumfries and Carlisle Infirmaries and doctors came to the scene to help if they could. There are dozens of photographs in the Museum’s collection showing the wreckage and the crowds that came to help and gaze at the spectacle. Many of these were turned into postcards within days of the event such was the interest in it.

Nurses uniform

Another object we have is a bugle which belonged to John Malone. He was aged just 16 when he died in the train crash at Quintinshill. He was too young to go into active service but he was travelling on the train with the regimental band to play a musical farewell to the troops when they boarded their ship in Liverpool.

WW1 Bugle

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