world War one Archives - Page 8 of 9 - The Devil's Porridge Museum

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.

Kenneth Bingham Quinan ‘the great KBQ’

By Collections blog

Kenneth Bingham Quinan “The great KBQ.”

1878-1948

KBQ was probably the most important person behind the construction and successful operation of HM Factory Gretna (the greatest munitions factory in World War One, The Devil’s Porridge Museum tells its story).

An American by birth but a resident in South Africa at the start of the War, he was described as having energy like a ‘steam piston’. He was integral to the construction of the Factory site (nine miles long and two miles wide in total), recruited the chemists and technical experts necessary for the production of cordite and compiled over 300 technical manuals at the end of the War to maintain the expertise gathered during the War. A founding member of the Institute of Technical Engineers, he was the presiding genius of the Factory which employed 30,000 people at its height, 12,000 of whom were women.

This is the first in a series of articles looking at his life and contribution.

In 1878 KBQ was born in New Jersey to parents of Irish and English extraction., their sixth child. His father and uncle had both been involved in the American Civil War. KBQ’s father was aide de camp to Stonewall Jackson (a Confederate general) and his uncle, Colonel W R Quinan, was gunnery expert and mathematician at the prestigious West Point Army Academy.

KBQ;s uncle, W R Quinan published a book on his research into explosives.

KBQ had a normal schooling but no higher education. He spent some time aboard a sailing ship and then joined his uncle in 1890 at an industrial explosives factory in Pinole, California. He spent ten years there learning on the job with his uncle.

W R and K B Quinan both worked at the California Powder Works which mainly made explosives for gold mining.

Cecil Rhodes, founder of Rhodesia and later the Prime Minister of the Cape Colony, invited W R Quinan to travel to South Africa to help construct a dynamite factory to break the monopoly of the Nobel Company. He arrived on board a ship which was also laden with bricks, timber, soda and iron (all items to build the factory).

Cape Explosives Works was established by Cecil Rhodes. Rhodes added much of southern Africa to the British Empire. He was determined to break the Nobel dynamite monopoly and the Quinans helped him to achieve this.

W R Quinan played an integral part in the creation of the plant at Somerset West. KBQ joined his uncle in South Africa April 1901, he worked as his assistant for many years becoming General Manager of the Cape Explosives Works in 1909 (his uncle retired at this time due to ill health). W R Quinan died while in Australia but his body was returned to Somerset West for burial.

KBQ in South Africa

“…a unique preparation for the task he was to undertake for Britain throughout the First World War.”

From 1909 to December 1914, KBQ was General Manager of Cape Explosives Works. This factory had 1000 native employees and approximately 350 Europeans.

“…both Quinans were Americans and introduced the less conventional equipment, processes and methods prevalent in the USA….The underlying idea was to facilitate a system of planned inspection and maintenance in strict rotation. This was essential for plant carrying explosive risk but a somewhat similar system operated throughout the factory and KBQ insisted on its rigid application.” All quotes from an article in the Chemical Engineer Journal, 1966.

This house in South Africa is called Quinan House. It was built in 1901 for the General Manager of the De Beers Explosive Works. It was declared a National Monument in 1973.

There are two streets with the name Quinan in Somerset West: W R Quinan Boulevard and Quinan Road. Our next article will focus on how and why Quinan came to Gretna to join the British War effort.

Quinan House today.

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 22^nd 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.

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

A look at some of the dangers of working at HM Factory Gretna

By Collections blog

The Devil’s Porridge Museum is primarily focused on sharing the history of HM Factory Gretna, the greatest munitions factory on earth in World War One; it employed 30,000 workers, 12,000 of them women. The Museum is situated near one of the main factory sites (which is still owned by the Ministry of Defence today).

The purpose of the Factory was to produce cordite. One of the main ingredients of cordite is acid and although safety precautions were taken, we know of several accidents that involved contact with acid.

Female workers in the Nitric Acid retorts, the Nitric Acid Store at HM Factory Gretna.

Acid mixing stations at HM Factory Gretna.

Female workers at HM Factory Gretna working in the Acid Mixing Stations – measuring off nitric acid.

We know of the following incidents involving accidents with acid:

In 1917, W G Martin, a charge hand had his “face, head and right arm hurt with acid due to exit valve of pump blowing out.” Because his right eye was destroyed by the accident, he was offered £300 in compensation.

On 4th January, 1918, Jonathan Leah died. He had been injured on September 20th 1917 when he was working on pipes in the Factory. He struck a pipe with a hammer and acid sprayed onto his face. His left eye had to be removed and he died as a result of this injury.

Arthur Gilliam was working on an acid tank when he was overcome by noxious fumes. He died in hospital.

The photograph below shows the Volunteer Rescue Brigade for the Acid Section equipped with protective uniforms and a stretcher. They would have been sent in had there been a major acid leak or incident, fortunately a large scale leak did not occur.

James Carter Spensley

By Collections blog

Eastriggs (where The Devil’s Porridge Museum is based) is known as the Commonwealth Village. The majority of its street names are derived from places in the Commonwealth (or Empire) such as Vancouver Road, Delhi Road, Singapore Road etc. The township was built in World War One to house workers at HM Factory Gretna, the greatest munitions factory on earth at that time (the Museum tells the story of this factory and its 30,000 workers). The workers came from around the world and they left their mark behind in their wartime contribution and in the place names of Eastriggs. Here we feature one person from the Factory who worked here in World War One with Commonwealth connections.

James Carter Spensley

1886-1918

James was born in Gunnerside in North Yorkshire in 1886. His family were Wesleyans and his father was the Headmaster of the school. At some point in the 1890s, the family migrated to Knysna in South Africa.

James studied chemistry at the Transvaal University in Pretoria (pictured below) and then became a lecturer there.

He was wounded, fighting against a Boer rebellion which occurred in South Africa at the start of World War One.

In May 1917, James came to HM Factory Gretna and worked as a chemist in the Central Laboratory. This photograph below shows the Central Laboratory staff at the end of the War. James may be in this picture.

The main focus of his work was on solvent recovery problems and he delivered a talk to the Factory’s Scientific Society on the subject.

In Spring 1918, an ‘urgent call’ came for chemists to go and work at another Factory. James went and was badly injured while there. It is probable that this Factory was at Avonmouth, near Bristol, where mustard gas was made. James may have been gassed during production (we know of another chemist from HM Factory Gretna to whom this happened).

“The potential dangers of the task did not deter Mr Spensley from undertaking it, and he rendered much valuable service before he succumbed to the dangerous nature of his work and lay at Death’s door for many weeks.”

The death of James Carter Spensley

James returned to Gretna towards the end of 1918. He had a mild attack of influenza in late 1918. Sadly, he died on December 16th due to the weakness of his heart following his brush with death at another munitions factory.

His body was buried in the village of Gunnserside, North Yorkshire where his family had lived in before they emigrated to South Africa. He is listed on the war memorial in that parish.

Photograph above shows his grave and below shows the village war memorial.

james carter spensley grave

gunnerside war memorial

He was clearly well liked and valued by his colleagues at HM Factory Gretna as these passages demonstrate:

“Widespread sorrow was caused shortly before the Christmas holidays by the news that Mr Spensley had passed away at the Gretna Works Hospital.

As a result of his attractive personality and cheerful good nature he made a great many friends among the Factory Staff, and all keenly regretted that his young life should have been cut short in this quite unexpected way.”

gretna works hospital

“His death was indeed a great loss to Gretna, and the sadness of the event is only relieved by our pride in his fine record of war service.

Exerting himself unsparingly, and never shirking difficulty or danger, he served his country valiantly to the end.”

All quotes from Dornock Farewell magazine (in the Museum’s archive).

The following books (available from the Museum’s online shop) may be of interest to anyone wanting to know more about HM Factory Gretna and the people who worked there in World War One:

The Devil’s Porridge Museum Guidebook

Lives of Ten Gretna Girls booklet

Photograph of War Memorial taken from: https://www.warmemorialsonline.org.uk/memorial/217750/

Photograph of James Carters Spensley’s grave taken from: http://www.dalesgenealogy.com/Gunnerside/Gunnerside/index.html

The life and death of Eric de Clermont

By Collections blog

Eastriggs (where The Devil’s Porridge Museum is based) is known as the Commonwealth Village. The majority of its street names are derived from places in the Commonwealth (or Empire) such as Vancouver Road, Delhi Road, Singapore Road etc. The township was built in World War One to house workers at HM Factory Gretna, the greatest munitions factory on earth at that time (the Museum tells the story of this factory and its 30,000 workers). The workers came from around the world and they left their mark behind in their wartime contribution and in the place names of Eastriggs. Here we feature one person from the Factory who worked here in World War One.

Eric de Clermont

Born: 1st November 1880

Died (in Gretna): 5th December 1918

Commonwealth connection: South Africa

Eric’s experiences before World War One

1st November 1880 Eric was born in London.

1899 Eric entered King’s College, Cambridge.

1901 Eric appeared on Census return aged 20, he was listed as a student. At that time, his family were living in Reigate. His father, Otto (48) was listed as a Mechanical Engineer and his sister, Helen (22) as a School Teacher. His cousin, Kenneth Heilgers (19) was also staying with them and he was recorded as an East India merchant on the census.

1902 Eric graduated from King’s College with a BA.

1903 Eric graduated from Camborne School of Mines, Cornwall with a qualification in Ore Dressing for which he was awarded an Honours Grade Second Class.

Some time after 1903 Eric travelled to South Africa to work in mining.

1916 Eric returned to Britain.

Accidents and ill health meant that Eric couldn’t volunteer for the army.

He had been an enthusiastic rugby player, even captaining his team at King’s College Cambridge before an injury.

He lost his eye and contracted miner’s phthisis (a lung disease) whilst he was working in the South African mines.

In 1916, he was nominated for a Commission in a tunnelling company and promised he would be sent quickly to the Front but his injuries and ill health put a stop to that.

Eric’s War work

Eric de Clermont joined the Ministry of Munitions and after his preliminary training at Pitsea near Basildon, he came to HM Factory Gretna in July 1916.

For more information on Pitsea, see: https://www.wattylercountrypark.org.uk/factory

He seems to have been a well known and well liked person as these quotes demonstrate.

“He had a schoolboy’s enthusiasm for everything he undertook, and a schoolboy’s instinct of playing the game.”

“He was full of enthusiasm for his new task, and was one of the first to take over a shift; he soon became a Range Officer, and finally was appointed a Sub-section Officer.”

“He worked his Sub-section up to a pitch of the highest efficiency, and was always devising schemes for increasing output and reducing costs; this he was enabled to do by real hard work, and by the respect and confidence of his subordinates, which he won without difficulty.”

The Death of Eric de Clermont

On November 25th 1918, Eric was taken ill with influenza (the Spanish Flu). He had to be prevented (by force) from going to work at the Factory.

He was said to have been full of high spirits when he entered the influenza hospital.

But after a few days, pneumonia began to develop and he became quieter and finally passed away on December 5th 1918 aged 38.

He was buried at Rigg Cemetery on December 7th 1918.

Eric’s death “…cast a dark shadow over the closing days of the Factory, for with his passing we had lost a man who had gained our affection as colleague and friend. He was an outstanding personality on the Cordite Section, and it is probable that but few of the thousands on the area did not know him, his ingenuous, engaging disposition, and the hundred and one little episodes associated with his name.”

Photograph above: shows Victory Avenue, Gretna which was Eric’s address when he died

“His old tweed jacket; his beatific smile when one of his many little tricks was found out; his intense local patriotism…his garden, which he would weed on a rainy day sitting on a camp-stool under an umbrella – all these, together with the many episodes remembered by those who lived with at Staff-Quarters, Sarkbridge, and at 96 Victory Avenue, remain and endear him to us.”

All quotes from Mossband Farewell magazine (in the Museum’s archive).

To find out more about Eastriggs in World War One a map has been produced: https://www.devilsporridge.org.uk/product/eastriggs-commonwealth-walk-guide

Photo of some munitions workers outside a Gym at H. M. Factory Gretna.

Wonderful new photo of Gretna Girls

By Collections blog

We recently discovered this postcard and have added it to our collection. It shows a group of ‘Gretna Girls’ i.e. munition workers from HM Factory Gretna outside the gymnasium. HM Factory Gretna was the greatest factory on earth in World War One, it employed 12,000 women (The Devil’s Porridge Museum tells its story).

The workers were comparatively well looked after with a Social and Recreation Department through which the gym and other facilities were provided. A document in the Museum’s collection states that,

“…each township [Gretna and Eastriggs built to house the workers] became possessed of an Institute, a Cinema, a spacious Hall for Meetings, Concerts and Dances, a Mission Hall, smaller buildings for general purposes and a Recreation ground with pitches for Cricket, Football, Hockey and other healthy games. Tennis Courts and Bowling Greens were also provided.”

This photo has the following text written beneath it.

“These Gretna girls in costume trim

Have spent the morning in ‘the Gym’

They learn to climb, to jump and run,

And to judge by their faces, it’s all great fun!”

Interestingly, the postcard wasn’t sent until 1960 and when it was sent it was sent to someone (a female student?) at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford. The main text of the postcard does not relate to the photo on the front but the Postscript does. It seems the writer of the postcard bought it at a Church Bazaar.

The following is an extract from the back of the postcard:

“Owner of this splendid collection and really did take wk in Gretna Green Ordnance Factory set up during First World War.”

The gym is described in a Museum document as being “…fitted with all the most modern gymnastic appliances, and the classes held for girl operatives on several occasions each week, under the direction of a trained instructress, have been attended with most gratifying and beneficial results, physically and otherwise.”

The same document also describes the uniforms worn by the girls: “The members of these classes wear a neat and serviceable uniform that affords them ample freedom for their numerous exercises.”

We are very pleased with this new addition to our Museum collection. If you are interested in the stories of Gretna Girls and their experiences in World War One, this publication (available from the Museum’s online shop) may be of interest to you:

Lives of Ten Gretna Girls booklet

Born in a Munition Workers Hostel in 1919

By Collections blog

A recent visitor to the Museum sent us a photo of their mothers Birth certificate who used to work at the munitions factory at Powfoot during the Second World War. The visitor was researching their family tree when they discovered that one of their mothers three sisters (who her mother never mentioned) also worked in a munitions factory. The visitor’s mother (Margaret or Peggy Sweeney) was born at the end of World War One. Her mother (Bridget Sweeney) worked in one of the hostels for munitions girls in Eastriggs (Newfoundland House). She was a cook as shown in Peggy’s birth certificate (below).

These are photographs of Margaret or Peggy Sweeney as a child and young woman.

The accommodation for the workers at HM Factory Gretna varied as many wooden huts were built to be used as hostels but also a number of brick hostels were made to house more people, these brick hostels lasted for a long time and the majority of them stand today and have been split up into houses after being sold off after the war. The brick hostels had a matron and a cook to make sure that the workers were looked after and fed properly, each hostel was named after a famous figure such as Wellington, Kitchener and Wolfe which were all situated on Victory Avenue in Eastriggs.

The hostels were built very quickly by the Irish Navvies who came to Eastriggs and Gretna to build the Factory site. Even the brick hostels were built very quickly as stated in this account: “I remember when all the navvies were there building….. we were coming on shift one morning and they were starting to build a block and when we came off in the afternoon it was all up, the whole block was built, you know, the hostels, it was all built while we were at work, all built in a day, there were hundreds of men there.” – Mary Ellen Halliday, who started working in the factory in 1916 aged 19.

Hostel being built by navvies

When Sir Arthur Conan Doyle visited the Factory and hostels he said this about the way they were laid out “A considerable nucleus of solid brick houses which should be good for a century or more…. radiating out from this centre are long lines of wooden huts to hold the workers, cottages for the married couples, bungalows for groups of girls and hostels which hold as many as seventy in each. This central settlement is where people live – North and South of it is where they work.”

Gretna overhead view WW1

Photos of World War One munitions workers during and after the War

By Collections blog

The Museum was visited recently by a couple who told us about their family’s connections with HM Factory Gretna in World War One. They donated photographs of their family from that time (for our original post about this donation, see: https://www.devilsporridge.org.uk/fascinating-new-hm-factory-gretna-donation

The couple recently made contact with us again to share some photographs of the same people after the War had ended, when they had moved to Beeston in Nottinghamshire.

This photograph shows William and Anne Collins at around the time of their marriage om 1916 (she was a munitions worker at HM Factory Gretna and he was stationed there with the Royal Engineers).

The photograph below shows the same couple in 1973.

This photograph shows Anne when she worked at HM Factory Gretna, she was about 16 years old at the time.

The photograph below shows Anne in 1989 aged 91.

This photograph shows William in World War One. He joined the Royal Engineers in 1914.

The photograph below shows William in 1973. He worked at Wilford Power Station and died in 1981 aged 87 years.

Thanks so much to this couple and to all the people who share their family stories with us.

A plan of the National Filling Factory, Morecambe.

Explosion at World War One Shell Filling Factory

By News

A recent visitor to the Museum sent us this information. She has spent time researching a World War One munitions factory which is local to her: the No13 Filling Factory on White Lund Morecambe.

When she visited, she spoke with Judith, the Museum Manager and told her about the ‘Power House’ near the Filling Factory which was demolished in June this year (despite a local campaign to save it). It is shown, prior to its demolition, in the photograph below.

Our visitor has sent us the photograph above and also the map below. The Power House is in the top left corner close to the entrance, by the railway sidings. Four men won bravery awards (the Edward Medal in Silver) for their bravery in that building 1-3rd October 1917 when there was a large explosion at Morecambe Shell Filling Factory.

Photo copyright King’s Own Regimental Museum. http://www.kingsownmuseum.com/1917-exhibition-025.htm

The Power House was where the steam was generated to run the ‘fireless’ engines. We have an exampled of one such fireless locomotive outside The Devil’s Porridge Museum (see photo below). In this clip, Steve Irwin is talking about the explosion and the important role the fireless engines played in helping save the area from disaster https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p02l8dmn

Thanks to this visitor for sharing her research with us and for adding this comment in support of the Museum’s work:

“It’s just a shame that…Morecambe [has] not made the most of their heritage in relation to this site, that is why I am so supportive and in admiration of what you are doing at Eastriggs – very well done!”