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 Gretna 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 This week’s Worker of the Week, is Beatrice Victoria Campbell. She signed up to join the Queen Mary’s Army Auxiliary Corps, while at Gretna. As always gigantic thank you to all our research volunteers for making this possible.
Please be aware that there is reference to historic treatment of mental health conditions and content some readers may found upsetting in this post.
Early Life
On 2nd December 1898, Beatrice Victoria Campbell was born in Cupar, Fife. She was the penultimate child of eight (she had five sisters and two brothers) to her parents, John Johnstone Campbell and Annie (otherwise known as Anne) Dewar Morgan Campbell.
Beatrice’s father John was a fish dealer and it seems that he could have been inspired by another member of his family. The 1871 census record seems to indicate that young John had moved to Selkirk when he was nine. John’s father, or Beatrice’s grandfather, had then taken up the occupation of a fish monger after previously having worked as a carter and general labourer. Seemingly, this trade had been passed on to John! (Even if John’s remaining living brother became a tailor instead).
Indeed, adult John and family appear to have a Fish Emporium trading at 30 to 32 Bonnygate, Cupar. We have even seen evidence of an advert for the family’s fish emporium, which boldly claims it is “the oldest established in East Fife” and even appears to sell “rabbits,” in addition to describing itself as an “ice merchant, poulters and game dealers” and boosting its very own phone number. However, it is probably well worth noting that we do not know the exact date of this advert or exactly where it was advertised (if we were to hazard a guess we would say a local newspaper, but this is not a steadfast guarantee).
From a photo of the Fish Emporium in Bonnygate, it certainly looks like a very impressive building and was located on the main shopping street of the town! At the time it even appears to have had a fish shaped sign hanging outside.
We next come across Beatrice and the family in the 1901 census. Instead of living above the fish merchant, it seems that they moved to live in another house in Cupar. Although we can only theorise, perhaps living with the possibly pungent smell of the Fish Emporium was a bit too fishy for the family.
Sadly, in September 1904 one of Jessie, one of Beatrice’s sisters, died at the age of 16. Jessie’s death certificate records that she died as an intestinal blockage. Beatrice would have only been around 3 years old herself when this happened. Unfortunately, this seems to have been only first of much tragedy and hardship faced by the family.
However, that would come later. First, at 5 years old, on 27th August 1906, Beatrice started attending Castlehill Primary School [1]. This would have been only around a 13 minute walk from her home each day.
Jeannie Campbell
When Beatrice was 11, nearly 12 years old she would have been aware of what was happening to her older sister Jeannie Campbell.
On 27th November 1911, 23 year old Jeannie was committed to an what was referred to at the time as “asylum.” According to the register Jeannie had been suffering from “mania… hereditary and adolescence.” However, we are aware that historically mental health conditions were misunderstood. Not only does this seem to be exemplified in some of the terms used for the register – although perhaps standard for the time – but in a previous Worker of Week blog were we have reflected on the how a entirely different family responded to shell shock with with a lack of understanding (you can find out more about this in our Worker of the Week blog for Winifred Maud McLintic by clicking here>).
This then perhaps makes it more all the more notable that John paid £34 privately for his daughter to be committed, whilst many of the charges for others in the register seem to be made by local parishes. We have no further information on the reasons behind this.
We are in no way experts in what Jeannie would have gone through during her time there, or a more specific reason why she was committed. The information we do have have informs us that Jeannie spent two years there and was discharged on the 14th July 1914.
By this time John had died. In the October of 1912, he suffered a fatal cerebral haemorrhage. Beatrice would have only be thirteen years old at this point.
We learn from his probate that the family appear to still be living in the same location and John’s estate was worth around £4282 15s 2d.
Only around two years after Jeannie’s discharge in December 1916, Annie, Beatrice’s mother also died.
H.M. Factory Gretna
Perhaps it make sense that Beatrice wanted a change of scenery after all this turmoil.
We have seen Perth Academy Memorial suggest online that Beatrice worked at H.M. Factory Gretna. However, we don’t know when she exactly worked there, nor have we found her name in any electoral records so far, or known what she would have done at the factory. This suggests she may not have worked there for very long. One record seems to suggests that Beatrice’s job title was “domestic” in 1917, so possibly she could have helped out in one of the factories many hostels, but we do not know for sure.
Unfortunately, the truth is there are some things about those who worked at H.M. Factory Gretna which we may never know for sure. We do not have a comprehensive list of all those who worked at H.M. Factory Gretna and / or what they did there. Our excellent team of research volunteers are continuing to do an amazing job of finding out about H.M. Factory Gretna workers from the sources we do have – these range from newspaper articles, to autograph books, electoral registers and the Mossband and Dornock Farewell Magazines – but a major source of information is from relatives who politely contact us to kindly let us know more; all of this allows us remember and commemorate the individual H.M. Factory Gretna workers who played such a vital, be it commonly over-looked, part during the First World War.
So if you do happen to know more about Beatrice or any other H.M. Factory Gretna workers, please do contact us! Equally as importantly, do remember to be kind to our staff. We only have a small team who have a lot of work to do and not everyone in our team works on our H.M. Factory Gretna database. We always hugely apricate your patience or understanding and the best way to contact us is by emailing info@devilsporridge.org.uk. Thank you.
Although we may not know much for sure about Beatrice’s possible time at H.M. Factory Gretna, we are still very proud to be able to take the time to remember her in this blog!
QMAAC ( Queen Mary’s Army Auxiliary Corps)
What we do know about Beatrice is that she appears to have enrolled in the Queen Mary’s Army Auxiliary Corps, or QMAAC, whilst residing in the township of Gretna (with the nine-mile long, rural, site of H.M. Factory Gretna being located in Longtown in England to Dornock in Scotland). Beatrice joined in 1918. Coincidentally, the QMAAC was formerly renamed in the same year ( on 9th April 1918 to be more exact) as it was previously known as the WAAC or Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps [6]. Beatrice enrolling is more than likely to be a response to the recruitment campaign for this, which was widespread in Scotland during this time.
In the Imperial War Museum’s collection there is a signed photo of Beatrice in her uniform, which you can see by clicking here>
WAAC was designed to relive men from some non-combat duties on the frontline; leaving them free to fight. This included things like administrative, cookery, storekeeping and even some mechanical services with different sections for each [3]. However, these tasks were in no way free from danger. Located in the Western Front, the WAAC would have lived through many of the same conditions as the men. [5] Air Raids were a very real danger and would be detrimental to Beatrice’s survival.
To give you an idea on what the impact of this could have been like, The Imperial War Museum have a short video showing some of the aftermath of an Air Raid on a camp (around 2:17 in there is some footage of the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps attempting to clean up). You can find this video of the aftermath of an air raid by clicking here>
The National Army Museum’s website shows us that on 29th April 1918, Beatrice went out to Abbeville on the Somme.
Conditions were very dangerous here, with many air raids. As The National Army Museum explains:
“On the Western Front, the WAAC often shared the same dangers as their male colleagues. Air raids on the camps and depots were frequent. At Abbeville, on 30 May 1918, nine women died.”[5]
Sadly, we know that Beatrice was one of those who died in this air raid. She was 20 years old at this time.
As well as being remembered on the war memorial in Cupar, Beatrice is also remembered on a memorial at her families grave in the area. Her Commonwealth War grave is located in Abbeville. [8 and 9]
Sources and Further Reading
[1] Castlehill Primary School Admission Book.
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Read Beatrice Victoria Campbell’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 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>
