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 Zouch. During the Great War it filled some 19 million shells with high explosives.
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 trinitrotoluene (TNT) was adopted. TNT was expensive to make and was 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] He requisitioned the services of Albert Hall of Ferranti, who served as his chief engineer. 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 explosives, many women's skin turned yellow, and they were known as the "Chilwell Canaries" or "Canary Girls". [2]
A substantial part of the National Shell Filling Factory was destroyed in an explosion of eight tons of TNT on 1 July 1918. In all 134 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 St. Mary's Church, Attenborough. The blast was reportedly 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: [3]
"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." [sic]
A telegram was also sent from Buckingham Palace, on behalf of the King. [3]
In a speech reported in The Times , on 9 July 1918, Mr F. G. Kellaway, MP, Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Munitions speculated that, as the French had apparently given an honour to the Citadel of Verdun, perhaps the factory should be awarded the Victoria Cross. [4] [5] Whilst this award does not appear to have been made, the site was subsequently known as "The V.C. Factory". [5] The works manager, Lieutenant Arthur Hilary Bristowe, was subsequently awarded the Edward Medal on 21 January 1919 for his heroism following the explosion. (When the Edward Medal was discontinued in 1971, living recipients of the award were invited to return the medal, and were issued with the George Cross in exchange.) [6] [5] [7] [8]
Scotland Yard was called in to 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. [9]
At the time it was only reported in the wartime newspapers as – "60 feared dead in Midlands factory explosion."
On 16 November 1918 the works band, founded by Lord Chetwynd, himself playing cornet, played in the quadrangle of Buckingham Palace. They then marched to Downing Street and played outside No 10 and were congratulated by David Lloyd George, the prime minister, and they then played a further selection of items outside the Ministry of Munitions. [10]
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 13 September 1915
First shell filled 8 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 evermoreUnveiled on 30 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 [11]
At the end of the war, in 1919, the site became a Royal Army Ordnance Corps (RAOC) storage depot. [1] It is now the location of Chetwynd Barracks. [12] The memorial became a listed building in 1988. [13]
On the centenary of the explosion in 2018, the mass grave at Attenborough Church was renovated to a design by members of the Royal Engineers based at Chetwynd Barracks. The new memorial takes the form of a simplified celtic cross in Corten steel with a superimposed sword in stainless steel. This memorial echoes the original wooden cross on the grave that was lost to vandalism. The grave was rededicated by the Bishop of Southwell and Nottingham on 1 July 2018.
Trinitrotoluene, more commonly known as TNT (and more specifically 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene, and by its preferred IUPAC name 2-methyl-1,3,5-trinitrobenzene), is a chemical compound with the formula C6H2(NO2)3CH3. TNT is occasionally used as a reagent in chemical synthesis, but it is best known as an explosive material with convenient handling properties. The explosive yield of TNT is considered to be the standard comparative convention of bombs and asteroid impacts. In chemistry, TNT is used to generate charge transfer salts.
Amatol is a highly explosive material made from a mixture of TNT and ammonium nitrate. The British name originates from the words ammonium and toluene. Similar mixtures were known as Schneiderite in France. Amatol was used extensively during World War I and World War II, typically as an explosive in military weapons such as aircraft bombs, shells, depth charges, and naval mines. It was eventually replaced with alternative explosives such as Composition B, Torpex, and Tritonal.
A shell, in a modern military context, is a projectile whose payload contains an explosive, incendiary, or other chemical filling. Originally it was called a bombshell, contrasting with solid shells used for early rifled artillery, but "shell" has come to be unambiguous in a military context. A shell can hold a tracer.
The Shell Crisis of 1915 was a shortage of artillery shells on the front lines in the First World War that led to a political crisis in the United Kingdom. Previous military experience led to an over-reliance on shrapnel to attack infantry in the open, which was negated by the resort to trench warfare, for which high-explosive shell were better suited. At the start of the war there was a revolution in doctrine: instead of the idea that artillery was a useful support for infantry attacks, the new doctrine held that heavy guns alone would control the battlefield. Because of the stable lines on the Western Front, it was easy to build railway lines that delivered all the shells the factories could produce. The 'shell scandal' emerged in 1915 because the high rate of fire over a long period was not anticipated and the stock of shells became depleted. The inciting incident was the disastrous Battle of Aubers, which reportedly had been stymied by a lack of shells.
Chilwell is a suburban area in the borough of Broxtowe in Nottinghamshire, England. It lies on the west side of the town of Beeston and is 4 miles (6.4 km) south-west of the centre of Nottingham.
A filling factory was a manufacturing plant that specialised in filling various munitions, such as bombs, shells, cartridges, pyrotechnics, and screening smokes. In the United Kingdom, during both world wars of the 20th century, the majority of the employees were women.
This article explains terms used for the British Armed Forces' ordnance (weapons) and ammunition. The terms may have different meanings depending on its usage in another country's military.
RAF Credenhill, also known as RAF Hereford, was a non-flying station of the Royal Air Force situated in the village of Credenhill near Hereford, England, United Kingdom. It was commissioned in 1940 and served as home for a range of training schools from 1940 until closure in 1994. The site was subsequently obtained by the British Army.
Godfrey John Boyle Chetwynd, 8th Viscount Chetwynd, CH was a British peer and industrialist, a member of the House of Lords from 1911 until his death.
The Silvertown explosion occurred in Silvertown in West Ham, Essex (now part of the London Borough of Newham on Friday 19 January 1917 at 6:52 pm. The blast occurred at a munitions factory that was manufacturing explosives for Britain's First World War military effort. Approximately 50 long tons of trinitrotoluene exploded, killing 73 people and injuring 400 more, as well as causing substantial damage in the local area. This was not the first, last, largest, or the most deadly explosion at a munitions facility in Britain during the war; an explosion at Faversham involving 200 long tons of TNT killed 105 in 1916, and the National Shell Filling Factory, Chilwell, exploded in 1918, killing 137.
The Ordnance BL 5-inch howitzer was initially introduced to provide the Royal Field Artillery with continuing explosive shell capability following the decision to concentrate on shrapnel for field guns in the 1890s.
The Canary Girls were British women who worked in munitions manufacturing trinitrotoluene (TNT) shells during the First World War (1914–1918). The nickname arose because exposure to TNT is toxic, and repeated exposure can turn the skin an orange-yellow colour reminiscent of the plumage of a canary.
St. Mary's Church, Attenborough is a parish church in the Church of England in the village of Attenborough, Nottinghamshire.
Barnbow was a small settlement situated near the city of Leeds in the township and parish of Barwick in Elmet. The site is noted as the location of a munitions factory founded during the First World War. It was officially known as National Filling Factory No. 1. In 1916 a massive explosion killed 35 of the women who worked there.
Munitionettes were British women employed in munitions factories during the time of the First World War.
Chetwynd Barracks is a British Army installation at Chilwell, Nottinghamshire, England. It is home to the Reserves Training and Mobilisation Centre. It is set to close in 2026.
ROF Rotherwas was a Royal Ordnance Factory filling factory, No 4, located in Rotherwas, Dinedor Parish, Herefordshire, England.
National Filling Factory, Banbury, officially called National Filling Factory No. 9. was a British Ministry of Munitions filling factory, constructed during World War I and located in Banbury, Oxfordshire. The production of filled shells began in April 1916 and ended when the factory closed in 1924
The memorial to the victims of the 1916 Faversham Munitions Explosion is a Grade II* listed building in Love Lane cemetery, in Faversham, Kent. Unveiled in 1917, it incorporates a granite Celtic cross and the granite structures surrounding a mass grave for 73 people killed by the Faversham explosion on 2 April 1916, and a nearby freestanding stone which records the names of another 35 who were buried elsewhere. The memorial became a Grade II listed building in 1989, and was upgraded to Grade II* in March 2016 just before the centenary of the explosion.
The memorial to munitions workers of National Filling Factory No.6, Chilwell is a Grade II listed building on the north side of Chetwynd Road inside Chetwynd Barracks, in Chilwell, near Nottingham. It commemorates the workers who died in accidents at National Shell Filling Factory, Chilwell during the First World War, particularly the large explosion on 1 July 1918. The large free-standing pyramidal monument, enclosed by chains carried on shell casings, was unveiled in 1919 and became a Grade II listed building in 1987.
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