birtley belgians

[Guest john bygate]

I have just recently seen the publication of my book – 'Of Arms & the Heroes', available from THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION PROJECT, MINERS HALL, RED HILL, DURHAM DH1 4BB (ENGLAND) at £10 plus p+p – about the Belgian soldiers who were badly wounded at the front in WW1 and who ended up as volunteers making munitions instead at the all-Belgian factory at Birtley in County Durham, with its attached village of Elisabethville. I noticed on your site a few queries about these men, dating back to as early as 2003. I shall be pleased to try to help clear up queries about these great workers, who did much more than they were expected to: at the production rate set by the British government they would have made just over 1 million shells by the end of the war, but instead turned out 2¾ million … and this from a workforce comprising 85% 'war-wounded'!

WW1 sites far too often focus on the men in the trenches; people like the 'Birtley Belgians' (as they were known) are almost always ignored – yet they did just as much for the war effort as those at the front. Let's hear it for these unsung Heroes … which they undoubtedly were!

John Bygate

[Marnik]

Monday evening on tv in Belgium:

Canvas : Belgen maken bommen (Belgian makes bombs).July 3rth.20.50pm

About the history of the Belgians in Birtley.

Marnik

[abn311]

During the war, ca. 6000 Belgians lived and worked in Elisabethville, a walled part of Birtley. They had their own shops, church, school, cinema. Their houses were equipped with running water and flush toilets, in contrast with the local population. An ammunition factory was started up, with jobs in priority for the Belgians. Wounded soldiers worked here together with civilians.

See the url below for images of graves of 13 Belgian soldiers burried on the churchyard of Birtley. As I heard, the graves would be restored by now. Maybe John can provide us with a picture of their present condition ?

http://www.geocities.com/wolfke38/Britley.html

regards,

bert.

[Guest john bygate]

Bert,

sorry I haven't replied to your query about the Elisabethville graveyard till now: I only rarely remember to visit this website!

As to the present state of the graveyard, there is now only a thin patch of gravel where the headstones once lay: their vandalised remains (see first attachment) were removed about two years ago and a new memorial to the 13 was erected in the nearby municipal cemetery and dedicated on Armistice Day 2005. As you can see from the second attachment, they couldn't even be bothered to get the name right!

So much for local history!

regards,

John

[abn311]

Thx for your update, john.

A bit late, but I must have overlooked your answer.

[Liz in Eastbourne]

I'm reviving this old thread because I've found there's now a lot more online, such as this site, which features a man in the Ministry of Munitions called Graham Spicer.

His name is on the Ascham Memorial Arch in Eastbourne and we were at first puzzled as there was no CWGC or SDGW entry for him. The only Graham Spicer was this Graham Prockter Spicer of the paper manufacturing family, but he did not seem to fit the bill at all. Then we found a NZ obituary mentioning that this man had attended school in Eastbourne and had performed sterling service in the war, after being rejected for active service. He died of complications of influenza in early November 1918.

It appears from this site that Graham Spicer had the idea of getting Belgians, especially men rendered unfit for active service, to work in munitions, and this idea resulted in thousands of Belgians coming to make shells, cartridge cases etc at Birtley. The Times obituary was not very informative about this but the digital archive does have a lot of interesting reports and advertisements about the repatriation of Belgian workers after the war ended and auctioning of the furniture and fittings of houses in Elisabethville. The OP's book may well mention all this, I don't know. If anyone else knows more about Spicer and can share the information I'd be very interested to hear from them.

Liz

Edited 16 July , 2014 by Liz in Eastbourne

[Liz in Eastbourne]

This is about a community centre in New Malden named after Graham Spicer on account of his charitable works. No mention is made of his key role in enabling munitions factories to obtain workers from Belgium, but Belgium features in the account of his youth work.

EDIT I found a much fuller account in the New Malden Village Voice, 2009, by Robin Gill, which says that his funeral was attended by Belgian government as well as Ministry of Munitions staff and representatives from the National Projectile Factory (Birtley).

Liz

[Seany]

In addition to the 13 soldiers the Belgian priest, father Michael Verpoorten, conducted a total of 75 funerals at Elizabethville. Over the three year period he also baptised 277 children and performed 84 marriages. The local archives have an extensive file containing all the details

[Liz in Eastbourne]

That's interesting, Seany, especially the number of children born.

I looked for John Bygate's book online and the only copy I could find was advertised on Amazon at £200!

Liz

Pedantic point, I think it's always spelt in the Belgian manner, Elisabethville.

[Seany]

That's interesting, Seany, especially the number of children born.

I looked for John Bygate's book online and the only copy I could find was advertised on Amazon at £200!

Liz

Pedantic point, I think it's always spelt in the Belgian manner, Elisabethville.

The files at the archive office in Newcastle contain letters sent to the priest when he was back in Brussels years later asking for copies of birth certificates from those born in Elisabethville, possibly because it was Belgian territory?

[Ann Galliard]

Unfortunately the book is no longer available at any price!  My interest is the local workforce, as my grandmother & her sister worked at Birtley, walking to their shifts each day from Grange Villa. Is there any information about these local workers? The main entry in the Official History of the Ministry Munitions (1922) has a good section on the Belgians but little else. There may be something in the local papers but I don't have access. Any ideas?

Best, Ann

[Liz in Eastbourne]

Hello Ann -  thanks for posting that interesting relic of Birtley.

I eventually found John Bygate's book in the public library in Durham:  I don't know if you could request it from your library on inter-library loan.  There are accounts in The Times  (I recall them focusing more on the Belgians)  and though at the time when I was working on my account of Graham Spicer the local papers were not available online, I am sure it would be worth joining the British Newspaper Archive to see what you can find,

 

The 'Durham at War' website has some interesting material. as you probably know. 

 

It also appears a new book is being written, do you know about that?

 

http://www.thejournal.co.uk/business/business-news/bae-preserves-history-part-new-4431792

'SHIFTING BAE Systems in Birtley from its 1916 factory to state-of-the-art, purpose-built premises less than a mile away in Washington has proved an enlightening experience in more ways than one.

Priceless historic artefacts from the Great War, ranging from photographs and documents to period bricks and signs from the site, are all being preserved as part of the region’s industrial heritage.

But more recent additions to the site, that are no longer required, are also heading to new homes after being offered to small businesses instead of being dumped.

The very bricks from the Birtley factory are being donated to museums, so they can be used in restoration projects, along with signs and other artefacts.

Local historian and retired BAE Systems employee Brian Armstrong is collating the site’s history in a book combining archive material with memories from employees and their families.

Armstrong, who worked at the site for 37 years until retiring in 2007, said: “The site was built by Armstrong- Whitworth, who became Armstrong- Vickers.

“They had a massive Belgian workforce, who were skilled tradesman and were injured servicemen who couldn’t go home but wanted to help the war effort.

“They built a housing estate called Elizabethville for 6,000 people, which was named after Elisabeth who was the Queen of the Belgians at the time. They brought their own families with them because they were refugees.”

Initially the factory was two sites separated by a brick wall – the Belgian-run factory producing projectiles – or shells – and the Armstrong-Whitworth section, employing local women to make cartridge cases.

In 1919, parts of the factory were bought or rented out by other local companies ranging from chemicals firms to car manufacturers.

But as war again approached, in 1936 the factory was reopened and employed 4,400 women and 2,000 men making munitions.

Armstrong said: “The Angel of the North site was the factory sports field and they had their own social club on Harris Bank which shut in the 60s. After the war, it was re-equipped to make steel buildings but it wasn’t a success. Then they made filing cabinets and office equipment.”

But at the outbreak of the Korean War in 1950, the factory returned to its roots and has made ammunition ever since.

Other relics from the more recent past, which normally may have ended up in landfill, are also being preserved and sold on to small and start-up businesses in the North East.

BAE Systems brought the NAC Group on board to manage the move. The logistics consultancy had the dual job of preserving the historically important parts of the fixtures and fittings and dealing with the old furniture.

“This is a very precious site and it contains such historical objects,” said Rita Potts, head of logistics at NAC.

“The site itself is historical – there are road signs on the site and some of the buildings are made of Birtley brick.”

Because of the size of the job, NAC realised the equipment could be recycled for the benefit of charity and start-up business.

All of the unwanted office furniture from the site will go to Red Cross, which will sell it on to small firms in the region. The money raised will go to towards the charity’s work.'

 

(BAE report dated 2011, updated 2013)

 

Liz

 

Edited 22 October , 2018 by Liz in Eastbourne
Add date.

[MPS]

On the subject of the Birtley Belgians you may find this of interest. I have some of these tokens in my collection.

https://war-work.com/national-projectile-factory-birtley/

[ianjonesncl]

Some information and pictures which may be of interest.

Northumbrian Gunner: Birtley Belgians - Elizabethville

 

[Terry_Reeves]

There are a whole load of files at TNA on the subject, some of which contain some interesting photographs about life there.

https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/results/r?_q=Birtley+AND+belgians

TR

[sassenach]

There was an exhibition on this subject at Talbot House in Poperinghe a few years ago.