Women at War – The Munition Workers in WWI Talk

Local historian Eric Jackson relates the story of the National Shell Filling Factory Number 1, better known as Barnbow, especially the women that worked there and the explosion of 1916.

The illustrated talk describes the establishment of National Explosives and Filling Factories following the ‘Shell Crisis’ of 1915 and tells what led to the building of the Barnbow Munitions works, what it did, the women who worked there and how the artillery shells were manufactured and filled with explosives.

The central part of the talk is about the explosion of December 5th 1916 and its aftermath with the stories of some of those killed. The explosion killed 35 women, including 2 from Pontefract, 5 from Castleford and 1 from Normanton. The memorials to those killed are described, as well as similar disasters at other explosives factories, and the effect women’s war work had on the eventual implementation of equal suffrage.

The end of production in 1918, the factory’s closure in 1918, its eventual demolition and sale, and the site as it is today is also described along with a comparison with the similar World War Two works at Boston Spa.