National Shell Filling Factory, Chilwell

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The National Shell Filling Factory, Chilwell, was a World War I United Kingdom Government-owned explosives Filling Factory. Its formal title was National Filling Factory No. 6. It was located near Chilwell, at that time a village, in Nottinghamshire on the main road from Nottingham to Ashby de la Zouche. During WWI it filled high explosives into some 19 million shells - some 50% of all shells fired.

At the end of the war, in 1919, the site became a Royal Army Ordnance Corps (RAOC) storage depot.[1]

Contents

[edit] Foundation of the Shell Filling Factory

The factory was created as a result of the Shell Crisis of 1915. At the beginning of World War I shells were filled with Lyddite but this needed imported raw materials and so TNT was adopted. TNT was expensive to make and as in short supply so Amatol, a mixture of various proportions of TNT and Ammonium nitrate, was adopted instead.[1]

On 20 August 1915 Godfrey Chetwynd, 8th Viscount Chetwynd was given the task of designing, building and superintending the running of a factory to fill large calibre shells with Amatol.[1]

The Chilwell site was apparently selected as it was close to a railway line from which a siding connection could be constructed, and sheltered from surrounding areas by hills.

From the start, women were employed. This may have been another reason for the choice of location, as there was a tradition of women working in local textile factories in the nearby towns. Owing to their exposure to the chemical compounds, many women's skin turned yellow, and they were known as the "Chilwell Canaries" or "Canary Girls".

[edit] The 1918 Explosion

A substantial part of the National Shell Filling Factory was destroyed in an explosion of eight tons of TNT on 1 July 1918. 137 people were killed, of whom only 32 could be positively identified, and a further 250 were injured. The unidentified bodies are in a mass grave in Attenborough churchyard. The blast was reported heard twenty miles away.

The factory returned to work for the war effort the next day, and within one month of the disaster reportedly achieved its highest weekly production. Winston Churchill, then Minister of Munitions, sent a telegram:[1]

"Please accept my sincere sympathy with you all in the misfortune that has overtaken your fine Factory and in the loss of valuable lives, those who have perished have died at their stations on the field of duty and those who have lost their dear ones should fortify themselves with this thought, the courage and spirit shown by all concerned both men and women command our admiration, and the decision to which you have all come to carry on without a break is worthy of the spirit which animates our soldiers in the field. I trust the injured are receiving every care."

A telegram was also sent from Buckingham Palace, on behalf of the King.[1]

The factory was collectively awarded the Victoria Cross and subsequently known as "The V.C. Factory".[1]

Scotland Yard was called into investigate. Lord Chetwynd is alleged to have told them he was convinced it was sabotage and to have gone as far as naming the culprit. However, the more likely explanation is lax safety standards as the workforce competed to meet increasingly challenging production targets, coupled with the instability of the TNT compound on an unseasonably warm day.[citation needed]

At the time it was only reported in the newspapers as - "60 feared dead in Midlands factory explosion."

A memorial to those who had died in all explosions at the site was unveiled by the Duke of Portland on 13 March 1919. It takes the form of a small obelisk above a massive pyramidal base. There is an inscribed stone, with a curiously statistical approach to commemorating the factory's achievements as well as the dead:

ERECTED TO THE MEMORY OF THOSE MEN AND WOMEN WHO LOST THEIR LIVES BY EXPLOSIONS AT THE NATIONAL SHELL FILLING FACTORY CHILWELL 1916 - 1918 PRINCIPAL HISTORICAL FACTS OF THE FACTORY FIRST SOD TURNED 13TH SEPTEMBER 1915 FIRST SHELL FILLED 8TH JANUARY 1916 NUMBER OF SHELLS FILLED WITHIN ONE YEAR OF CUTTING THE FIRST SOD 1,260,000 TOTAL SHELLS FILLED 19,359,000 REPRESENTING 50.8% OF THE TOTAL OUTPUT OF HIGH EXPLOSIVE SHELL BOTH LYDDITE AND AMATOL 60PD TO 15INCH PRODUCED IN GREAT BRITAIN DURING THE WAR TOTAL TONNAGE OF EXPLOSIVE USED 121,360 TONS TOTAL WEIGHT OF FILLED SHELL 1,100,000 TONS

On the fiftieth anniversary of the explosion, the memorial was restored and plaques were added with the following text:

TO THE GLORY OF GOD AND IN MEMORY OF THOSE WHO GAVE THEIR LIVES IN TWO WORLD WARS AT THE GOING DOWN OF THE SUN AND IN THE MORNING WE WILL REMEMBER THEM THEIR NAME LIVETH FOR EVERMORE UNVEILED ON 30TH OF JUNE 1968 BY MT JAMES BOYDEN MP PARLIAMENTARY UNDERSECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE ARMY ON THE OCCASION OF THE 50TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE EXPLOSION AT CHILWELL THE V.C. FACTORY IN RECOGNITION OF THE BRAVERY AND FORTITUDE OF THE EMPLOYEES [2]

The memorial became a listed building in 1988.

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ a b c d e f Haslam
  2. ^ National Register of War Memorials http://www.ukniwm.org.uk/server/show/conMemorial.26873/fromUkniwmSearch/1

[edit] References