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The Great War (1914-1918) Forum

Remembered Today:

Australian munitions worker


gem22

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I wonder if anyone on the forum can solve a puzzle for me?

Whilst searching through a Cambridge cemetery looking for the grave of a member of the WRAF who died in the Great War I happened upon a CWGC headstone which was engraved as follows; "J.E.Langworthy" Austalian munitions worker 30th July 1918.

My questions are: Why would an Australian be doing munitions work in Cambridge, and why would he get a CWGC headstone? He is on the CWGC Debt of Honour and so it makes sense that he has an appropriate headstone but I'm just curious to know why he would be entitled to one?

Thanks

Garth :(

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During both WW1 & WW2 a number of Commonwealth civilian organisations were accepted by the military as qualifying for war grave status. The WW2 list was much longer than that for WW1. The largest such group was the Mercantile Marine.

Members of the Recognised Civilian Organisations had to meet two additional criteria not required by military casualties. (1) Their death had to be caused by war actions or the increased threat caused by war and (2) they had to be on duty at the time of their death - being posted overseas counted as 'being on duty'.

If these two criteria were not met, then the grave is a non-world war grave. This explains why two merchant seaman can be buried in the same cemetery, having died on the same day but only one is a war grave - ie one killed through war action and the other drowned in a normal maritime accident.

The Australian government deemed that their War and Munitions Workers (men and women) qualified for war grave treatment as they were recruited as a body and were posted overseas for the war effort. Some of their CWGC entries show a 'service number' indicating that they were an organised body. All but one of these casualties are buried in the UK - the other being in France.

The list of these Recognised Civilian Organisations is very interesting (particularly for WW2) and has been an area of study of mine. If anyone wishes to have a list of these organisations, please email me.

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Terry

Thankyou for an absolutely brilliant response. I knew someone would know the answer. You have put my mind at rest. Once again thanks

Garth

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Garth,

There are two Australian munition workers buried in Brotton Churchyard, N/E England.

There was a munitions factory attached to the local steelworks during the war.

Bob.

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To answer the first part of your query. A number of skilled workers were sent to the UK for work in munitions factories by Australia and Canada. The numbers were quite small, about 3,000 I think. The exact figure can be found in "Arms and the Wizard" by RJQ Adams.

Terry Reeves

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Terry, Are lists of these munitions workers from overseas available?

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The Australian War Workers are mentioned in "Australia During the War" by Ernest Scott, Volume XI of The Official History of Australia in the War of 1914-1918. Some 6000 Australian artisans and unskilled labourers worked on war projects in the UK and in France. Their numbers included soldiers who were discharged from the AIF in the UK as being physically unfit, and who elected to remain in Europe and do war work.

67 of the Workers are recorded to have died from influenza during the 1918 pandemic. Others must have died in industrial accidents.

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Christine

As far as I'm aware, there are no official lists of muntions workers either UK born or from overseas. Some of the larger munitions manufacturers published works magazines which sometimes mentioned individuals, but it is a bit hit and miss I'm afraid.

Terry Reeves

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  • 9 years later...

I recently received a senior medical officer's report on the trip of H.M.A.T. "D17", "Malta" from UK to Australia in July-September 1918. The report gives interesting insights into day to day life in the hospital ward of a troopship.

Major Clay comments that there were a number of Munitions Workers on board, and that a much higher percentage of Munitions Workers were admitted to Hospital than troops.

Does anyone know how many Munitions Workers went to the UK from Australia during the war? Were they mainly men or women?

Many thanks

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Terry

Thank you for pointing me in the right direction. I'll try to follow up on the references in that thread.

Harper :)

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The first few pages of this Australian War Worker's records show some of the paperwork used for Munition Workers or Labourers.

ROSEMAN was not a munition worker, although he died from broncho-pneumonia following influenza whilst working as a labourer in a munitions factory here in the UK.

See here.

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Hi Harper,

Re the numbers: Tony Griffiths has written a book called 'An Industrial Invasion: Australian Civilian Volunteers in British Factories 1916-1920, (March 2010).

In the foreword, the then Australian Minister for Defence wrote: 'Two distinct groups of civilian volunteer workers, Australian War Workers and Australian Munitions Workers, comprising more than 6000 men, made the hazardous voyage to Great Britain to either help build the factories that made the guns, or to work in the shell-filling factories to provide the materiel the Army needed to fight the war.'...

I asked Tony some years ago about Australian women Munitions Workers, and he replied. ... About the ladies: there were none, despite their frequent, persistent efforts to 'do something'. I have records of many, many efforts by women's groups to persuade the Australian and British governments to allow them to travel to Britain and work for the war effort....

There were, however, some Australian women already over there when war began, or who travelled there before shipping became government controlled. These worked in Britain and on the Continent, mainly as support people in hospitals, canteens and the like. Some approached the Munition Worker Scheme's London office, but, while offering advice, the office did not actively intervene on the women's behalf with the British. However, any Employment Exchange could have placed them in a factory, although this might not have been what they wanted.

I suspect that these women would have been well-off. The fact that they were in Britain suggests that, and that many wanted to be 'motor drivers' at a time when cars were reasonably rare - and women drivers rarer still - supports the idea. Women's enthusiasm for the war was very strong in Australia, many support organisations were formed, some of these can be found on the Australian War Memorial web site awm.gov.au The local press, using British press reports, glamorised the work British women were doing in factories but didn't tell of the medical outcome of filling artillery shells with explosives.

Judy

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Judy

Thanks for this additional information - very enlightening.

If you are interested in Australian women who served in Europe, I have some short memoirs of Margaret Evans (my wife's great aunt) who served as a VAD in France. I'd be happy to share them with you.

Thanks again.

Harper

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Hi Harper

I'd be extremely interested in learning more about your wife's G/Aunt Margaret Evans, and would love a copy of her memoirs if you'd be willing to share.

Cheers, Frev

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Hi Harper,

Re the numbers: Tony Griffiths has written a book called 'An Industrial Invasion: Australian Civilian Volunteers in British Factories 1916-1920, (March 2010).

Judy,

That book sounds very interesting. Is it readily available? Do you have publishers details or ISBN

Scott

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Hi Scott

The book is published by Toptech Engineering, PO Box 227, Terrey Hills, NSW, 2084 and you can contact Tony there and buy from him. It is not readily available elsewhere, although it does appear online occasionally. The ISBN is 978-0-9750646-3-4

Judy

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...If you are interested in Australian women who served in Europe, I have some short memoirs of Margaret Evans (my wife's great aunt) who served as a VAD in France. I'd be happy to share them with you....

Many thanks Harper, PM sent

Judy

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Frev

I'll be happy to share the memoirs with you. Just send me a PM with your email and I'll forward them to you.

Harper

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Frev

I'll be happy to share the memoirs with you. Just send me a PM with your email and I'll forward them to you.

Harper

Done - thank you :)

Scott - have emailed you Tony's email address.

Cheers, Frev

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