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The Gretna Girls
The Gretna Girls was a collective nickname given to women munition workers at HM Factory Gretna in World War One. Women came from all over the United Kingdom to work at the factory, but many were drawn from the surrounding areas of Scotland and Northern England. Working in munitions The Gretna Girls were a small part of the one million women who worked in munitions during World War One. The makeup of The Gretna Girls reflected the countrywide trends for munitions workers: the majority were working class young women. However, as Chris Brader points out, unusually for Government factories, munition workers at Gretna came from an even younger demographic—a large proportion was under eighteen years of age. There were no creche facilities at Gretna, unlike other munition factories. The highest number of women employed at the factory was 11,576 in 1917, but this figure dropped to 6,285 by October 1918. Impact on the local area The influx of workers to the factory led to the bui ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Carlisle
Carlisle ( , ; from xcb, Caer Luel) is a city that lies within the Northern England, Northern English county of Cumbria, south of the Anglo-Scottish border, Scottish border at the confluence of the rivers River Eden, Cumbria, Eden, River Caldew, Caldew and River Petteril, Petteril. It is the administrative centre of the City of Carlisle district which, (along with Cumbria County Council) will be replaced by Cumberland (district), Cumberland Council in April 2023. The city became an established settlement during the Roman Empire to serve forts on Hadrian's Wall. During the Middle Ages, the city was an important military stronghold due to its proximity to the Kingdom of Scotland. Carlisle Castle, still relatively intact, was built in 1092 by William II of England, William Rufus, served as a prison for Mary, Queen of Scots in 1568 and now houses the Duke of Lancaster's Regiment and the Border Regiment Museum. In the early 12th century, Henry I of England, Henry I allowed a pri ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Women In The World Wars
During both world wars, women were required to undertake new roles by their respective national war efforts. Adams, R.J.Q. (1978). ''Arms and the Wizard. Lloyd George and the Ministry of Munitions 1915 - 1916'', London: Cassell & Co Ltd. . Particularly, Chapter 8: ''The Women's Part''. Women across the world experienced severe setbacks as well as considerable societal progress during this timeframe.Wibben, Annick T R, and Jennifer Turpin. "Women and War." In Encyclopedia of Violence, Peace and Conflict, edited by Lester R. Kurtz. 2nd ed. Elsevier Science & Technology, 2008. The two World Wars hinged as much on industrial production as they did on battlefield clashes. With millions of men away fighting and with the inevitable casualties, there was a severe shortage of labour in a range of industries, from rural and farm work to urban office jobs. While some women managed to enter the traditionally male career paths, women, for the most part, were expected to be primarily involv ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Euphemia Cunningham
Euphemia Culbert Cunningham OBE BEM (later Baxter; 1892 – 2 August 1989) was a World War One munitions worker at HM Factory, Gretna, who was the first person from Edinburgh to be awarded a Medal of the Order of the British Empire for her bravery in rescuing injured workers, during an explosion in the cordite factory. Life Euphemia Cunningham was born in Edinburgh in 1892, and had four brothers. Her father was a Gordon Highlander. She worked in a printing factory in Edinburgh, but in October 1915, as three of her brothers had died in World War I, she chose to join the 11,000 women involved in secret war work at the munitions factory in Gretna. The Gretna Girls was a collective nickname given to women munition workers at HM Factory Gretna in World War I. Her role in the factory was in the nitroglycerin section, which involved mixing dangerous chemicals nitric acid, sulphuric acid and glycerine with nitro-cotton to make cordite. Within a few months, she was made forewoman ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Maud Bruce
Maud Ellen Bruce (20 December 1894 — 8 January 1995) was a forewoman and a member of the fire brigade at H.M. Factory Gretna during World War I. She was also the recipient of an O.B.E. for her actions at the factory. In World War Two she worked at ROF Aycliffe, where during an accident with some ammunition, she was severely burnt. She lived to be 100 years old and was one of the first women in Britain to receive plastic surgery. Early life Maud Ellen Bruce was born on 20 December 1894. She lived with her parents, Thomas and Emma, and her eight siblings and grew up in Coundon, County Durham. Her father worked as a coalminer. By 1911, aged sixteen, she worked as a general domestic servant. Work at H.M. Factory Gretna during World War I Prior to World War I, the Gretna area was mostly agricultural, but during hostilities "the largest cordite factory in the UK was established" in response to the need for munitions. This new wartime industry meant a dramatic increase in the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
George V
George V (George Frederick Ernest Albert; 3 June 1865 – 20 January 1936) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 until Death and state funeral of George V, his death in 1936. Born during the reign of his grandmother Queen Victoria, George was the second son of Edward VII, Albert Edward, Prince of Wales, and was third in the line of succession to the British throne behind his father and his elder brother, Prince Albert Victor. From 1877 to 1892, George served in the Royal Navy, until the unexpected death of his elder brother in early 1892 put him directly in line for the throne. On Victoria's death in 1901, George's father ascended the throne as Edward VII, and George was created Prince of Wales. He became King-Emperor, king-emperor on his father's death in 1910. George's reign saw the rise of socialism, communism, fascism, Irish republicanism, and the Indian independence movement, all of which radically changed the poli ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mary Of Teck
Mary of Teck (Victoria Mary Augusta Louise Olga Pauline Claudine Agnes; 26 May 186724 March 1953) was List of British royal consorts, Queen of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Empress of India, from 6 May 1910 until 20 January 1936 as the wife of King-Emperor George V. Born and raised in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom, Mary was the daughter of Francis, Duke of Teck, a German nobleman, and Princess Mary Adelaide of Cambridge, a granddaughter of King George III and a minor member of the British royal family. She was informally known as "May", after the month of her birth. At the age of 24, she was betrothed to her second cousin once removed Prince Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence and Avondale, the eldest son of the Edward VII, Prince of Wales and second in line to the throne. Six weeks after the announcement of the engagement, he died unexpectedly during an 1889–1890 pandemic, influenza pandemic. The following year, she became ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Women's Police Service
The Women's Police Service (WPS) was a national voluntary organisation in the United Kingdom. History Formation It was originally established as the Women Police Volunteers (WPV) in 1914 by Nina Boyle and Margaret Damer Dawson, who had met when Damer Dawson was working for the Criminal Law Amendment Committee in 1914. Before the First World War, campaigners for women's rights proposed that there should be female as well as male police officers, but the outbreak of war prevented any progress. Both Boyle and Damer Dawson observed the trouble faced in London by Belgian and French refugees in London after the initial German advance, particularly the danger of their being recruited for prostitution on arrival at railway stationsMargarget Damar Dawson Spartacus-Education, retrieved 19 July 2014 They were also concerned about existing [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
State Management Scheme
The State Management Scheme was the nationalisation of the brewing, distribution and sale of liquor in three districts of the United Kingdom from 1916 until 1973. The main focus of the scheme, now commonly known as the Carlisle Experiment, was Carlisle and the surrounding district close to the armament factories at Gretna, founded in 1916 to supply explosives and shells to the British Army in the First World War. However, there were three schemes in total: Carlisle and Gretna, Cromarty Firth, and Enfield. In 1921 Carlisle and Gretna was split into two separate areas. Carlisle was the larger part and supplied some beer to Gretna. In 1922 the Enfield scheme ended and its public houses were sold back to private enterprise. The scheme was privatised by Edward Heath's Conservative Government in 1971 and its assets were sold at auction in six lots, mostly to established brewing interests. Ethos A central pillar of the scheme was the ethos of disinterested management: public house ma ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
HM Factory, Gretna
H.M. Factory, Gretna was the United Kingdom's largest cordite factory in World War I. The government-owned facility was adjacent to the Solway Firth, near Gretna, Dumfries and Galloway. It was built by the Ministry of Munitions in response to the Shell Crisis of 1915. The capital cost was £9,184,000 (£ in ) and it covered 9000 acres. The cost of working it from September 1916 to September 1918 was £12,769,000, during which time it produced cordite valued at £15,000,000, though it was claimed that without it the cordite would have had to be imported from the USA at a cost of £23,600,000. The Devil's Porridge Museum, Eastriggs, Dumfriesshire, commemorates the efforts of these workers during the First World War. Layout H.M. Factory, Gretna stretched from Mossband near Longtown in the east, to Dornock / Eastriggs in the west straddling the Scottish-English border. The facility consisted of four large production sites and two purpose-built townships. The facility had its o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gretna, Dumfries And Galloway
Gretna ( gd, Greatna) is a town in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, originally part of the historic county of Dumfriesshire. It is located close to the A74(M) on the border of Scotland and England and near the mouth of the River Esk.1:50,000 OS map 85 It is the most southeasterly settlement in Scotland. The town is situated east-south-east of Dumfries, east of Annan, north-west of Carlisle, south-east of Glasgow and south of Edinburgh. History Etymology Gretna means "(place at the) gravelly hill", from Old English ''greot'' " grit" (in the dative form greoten (which is where the -n comes from) and ''hoh'' "hill-spur". The Lochmaben Stone is a megalith standing in a field, nearly west of the Sark mouth on the Solway Firth, three hundred yards or so above high water mark on the farm of Old Graitney. It was one of the traditionally recognised meeting places on the England / Scotland border. 17th century Prior to the Acts of Union 1707 of the Parliaments of Englan ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eastriggs
Eastriggs is a small village located in Dumfries and Galloway in the south of Scotland, the village is located around north of the mud and sandbanks of the channel of the River Eden, which extends west into the Solway Firth. Travelling by road Eastriggs is to the east of Annan, to the east of Dumfries, to the west of Gretna, to the west of Carlisle and to the south of Edinburgh. The B721 road, runs through Eastriggs and other neighbouring towns and villages connecting to the nearby A75. History Situated in the parish of Dornock, in the traditional county of Dumfriesshire, Eastriggs appears to have taken its name from the farm, or farm house, known as ''Eastriggs'' that was located in the middle of what was to become the new township.Victorian OS Sheet 6 The only other buildings in the area prior to World War I were a group of houses at Lowtherton (now North Road, Lowthertown); a parallel group on what is now the B721 road; an inn and a smithy where East Road joins t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
