womens work !

[GRACELAND]

HI ALL,

Question ,, My granmother (died 1976) I remember her saying "During the war "

(sounds like uncle Albert fool & horses) that she was on war work up in Yorkshire

a place called Skipton any idea what she was doing ??? she never did say !

[Guest Ian Bowbrick]

She was probably a 'Canary' - Munitions Worker.

Ian

[Clive Maier]

Do you mean WWII?

[GRACELAND]

no Clive she said she was a teenager at the time so as she was born in 1900 it has to be ww1 ! an less it was her memory as i was ony young then as well....

[paul guthrie]

What did she think of Elvis? Perhaps we can hear from Andy Max on this?

[Clive Maier]

... so as she was born in 1900 it has to be ww1 ...

The same year as my father! He served right at the end of the war.

The war work could be almost anything. The following extract comes from the Spartacus site.

Nearly 200,000 women were employed in government departments. Half a million became clerical workers in private offices. Women worked as conductors on trams and buses. A quarter of a million worked on the land. The greatest increase of women workers was in engineering. Over 700,000 of these women worked in the highly dangerous munitions industry. Industries that had previously excluded women now welcomed them. There was a particular demand for women to do heavy work such as unloading coal, stoking furnaces and building ships.

Am I right in thinking that Canaries were those whose skins and complexions were yellowed by exposure to explosives? Would it be right to conclude that these were a minority of munitions workers, and that most worked purely in engineering – machining and stamping the ammo prior to filling?

[GRACELAND]

Thanks Clive..

[GRACELAND]

Paul she was a fan as well lucky though she never got all shook up over his death , as she died before

[john w.]

Graceland

Will have a word with my mother in law she lived in Silsden. Whilst not the same age as your grandmother, she was from the area and might be able to give a definitive answer on what happened in the area.

John

[David Kay]

Hello Graceland,

All of the mills in Skipton at that time, of which there were 7, were involved in textiles production of some sort. So perhaps your Grandmother was a spinner or weaver making clothing for the forces.

I can't find any record of there having been explosives filling or ordnance manufacture.

Alternatively, there was an army camp, at the end of what is now Salisbury Street. It was called Raikeswood Camp, and one of the first units occupying it was the Bradford Pals. From January 1918 to October 1919 it was a POW camp and home to 500 German officers and 130 ORs. So perhaps she may have had some connection with this.

Regards

David

[GRACELAND]

Thanks for that info all

[johnreed]

I have the story of Barnbow, No 1 Shell Filling Factory located at Cross Gates just outside of Leeds. It drew the women workers from within a twenty mile radius of Leeds, Skipton was well inside the radius. North Eastern Railway company laid on 38 special trains for the workers within a 24hr period with the trains stopping at Barnbow Halt. At the height of production the plant employed 16.000 women woking in the shifts 6 a.m. to 2 p.m. from 2 p.m. to 10 p.m. and from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. An Employment Bureau set up at Wellesley Buildings Leeds and hed received 130,000 female applicant for employment, all women employed on the origional startup of the factory received 1 months training at Woolwich'

"Nothing is impossible to industry"

"When greater perils men environ.

Then women show a front of iron"

John

[johnreed]

I forgot to to include that the workers were given permits which enabled them to make the outward and homeward journey free of charge.

John

[robbie]

All of the mills in Skipton at that time, of which there were 7, were involved in textiles production of some sort. So perhaps your Grandmother was a spinner or weaver making clothing for the forces. I can't find any record of there having been explosives filling or ordnance manufacture.

Come in a little late on this topic, but my female relatives on the paternal side all came from up this way and all worked in the mills as spinners, weavers, sorters, cloth dressers etc. Not munitions, though. I was up there about a year ago and not much left of any of these mills at all.

Robbie