大象传媒

There's a painting at the Science Museum in London showing a shell factory in Rotherham during World War One.

Like many other steelworks during the war, John Baker & Co.'s site at Kilnhurst was converted to make ammunition. The company produced over six million shells and women made up a large part of the workforce.

Many in Britain, both in the army and society, were shocked by the amount that munitions workers could earn. Although it was less than the men they worked alongside, sometimes the women were on better pay than soldiers at the front.

The company commissioned a painting in 1918 by a famous artist Stanhope Alexander Forbes as a record of the war effort. When it was purchased by the Science Museum and put on display in 1984 - three of the surviving women who had worked there were tracked down and spoke to 大象传媒 Radio Sheffield. Thirty years ago Sarah Tooley, at 91 years of age, was the oldest. Betty Muscroft and Lydia Newby were 82.

Without the efforts of thousands of women munition workers the Allies might not have won the war, but one of the women told 大象传媒 Radio Sheffield she felt some misgivings that the shells she made as a teenager had killed so many thousands of young German men.

Location: Kilnhurst Steelworks, Rotherham, Yorkshire S60 1DX
Image of the Munition Girls courtesy of Bridgeman Art Library
Presented by 大象传媒 Reporter, Kate Linderholm

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