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 the factroy 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, James Booth is another sad one. Thanks to all the research project led by Nigel Crompton to uncover this story and all our research volunteers.
Early Life
James Booth was born in 1874 in Hedworth Monkton, Jarrow, Durham. His parents were William and Jane Booth.
A few years later, James younger sister Margaret was born. Sadly, Jane died soon after.
According to the 1881 census William, James and Margaret were living in Jarrow. Ann Smith was helping William by looking after the children.
It seems that Ann and William married in 1884 and had further children.
By this time James had become a marine engineer.
Following this, James travelled to London.
Marriage
In 1901 James married Annie Tolmie, in Marylebone, London. Annie was a Glaswegian.
After there marriage it appears that the couple were living with Annie’s parents at 73 Hall Place, off Edgware Road, or at least this was were they were living in 1902 when their daughter was born. In 1905 Annie and James had a son.
By the 19011 census Annie and James have a third child. In the census Annie, her parents and children were all still living at the same address in London. However, James is not living with them. There has not been any reference to James in military or naval records.
H.M. Factory Gretna
As with many of the H.M. Factory Gretna workers that have been researched, we do not know exactly when James Booth moved to work at the factory. What we do know is that he worked as an engineer and lived in Jutland House, a hostel in Eastriggs.
Eastriggs was one of the townships built to house all the munitions workers who came to work at the factory (Gretna being the other) and according to the H.M. Factory Gretna Factory Manual, at the time Eastriggs “provides for the accommodation of those workers chiefly engaged on the Dornock section.”
James works number was 25209.
Unfortunately, now we come to the sad part. We already know that H.M. Factory Gretna could be dangerous. Those that worked there were working with explosive materials and some explosions did happen at the factory. [1] However, it seems that James died accident possibly involving some bad weather.
Accident at the Refrigeration House
On the night of the 6th to 7th March 1917, James was overseeing a refrigeration house. Later, upon a routine visit to the building by some of his colleagues, James’ body was found in well area of the building.
The inquest verdict was that no certain cause for his death could be determined. It was suggested a door had swung open due to the weather conditions and knocked James off balance.
George Henry Pike, another H.M. Factory Gretna worker who sadly died as result of a explosion is also mentioned in newspaper articles regarding the public enquiry.[2]
On the 9th March 1917, James was buried in his final resting address in Dornock Cemetery, close to Eastriggs. Despite this, his address appears to be for Cuthbert Street in Paddington, London. [3]
The Ministry of Munitions offered £300 compensation for James death. This is the highest compensation given and only to married men with a family. [4]
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[3] Dornock Cemetery Records, 9th March 1917.
[4] Compensation records for H.M. Factory Gretna.
To find James Booth’s online database entry please click 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>
