Female Munitions Workers at HM Factory, Sandycroft

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WOMEN WORKERS AT SANDYCROFT MUNITIONS FACTORY

The disused works of Messrs. Willans and Robinson near Sandycroft were taken over in 1915, initially for the manufacture of Guncotton. In October 1915 the factory also began to produce Tetryl, a sensitive explosive compound used to make detonators and explosive booster charges.

 

Workers were brought in from the surrounding areas by buses, run by the Crosville Motor Company of Chester. They came from Ellesmere Port, Wrexham, Heswall, Saltney and Mold. Later, a shift service of trains became necessary from various destinations.

 

The Works had its own Fire Brigade, Hospital, Power Station, Police and Detectives, and also a small township of over 160 houses to accommodate staff who needed to be on site.

 

About 70% of the workers on the Chemical processes at Sandycroft were women. They were ready volunteers for any work ‘no matter how hard or unpleasant it was’, and bravely carried on with production ‘in spite of persistent attacks of Tetryl rash.’

 

The work was hard and often dangerous. Between 1917 and 1918 there were over 3,000 cases of acid burns, over 2,000 eye injuries, over 700 cases of industrial dermatitis and in total over 12,000 accidents at the Works, but only 4 deaths from industrial accident.

 

However, the women apparently thrived on the work, and it was found in a study that ‘they had gained in weight, were brighter and better in spirits, and felt stronger and better in health since taking up work at the Factory’.* Possibly this was due to a spirit of patriotism and the belief that they were doing something useful outside the home, to help their country in the War.

 

(*H.M. Factory, Queensferry, Its History and Development’, BP 9216).

 

Image: Women Workers at Sandycroft munitions factory, (Left to Right, Deborah Rolands Williams, E. Frost and A. Owen) PH/51/153

 

MERCHED YN GWEITHIO YN Y FFATRI ARFAU, SANDYCROFT

 

Defnyddiwyd ffatri segur y Meistri Willans a Robinson ger Sandycroft ym 1915 i gynhyrchu cotwm gwn i ddechrau. Ym mis Hydref 1915, dechreuwyd cynhyrchu Tetryl yn y ffatri hefyd. Cyfansoddyn ffrwydrol sensitif oedd hwn a ddefnyddiwyd i wneud taniaduron a gwefrwyr atgyfnerthol ffrwydrol.

 

Byddai gweithwyr yn cael eu cludo yno o’r ardaloedd cyfagos ar fysiau Cwmni Modur Crossville o Gaer. Daethant o Ellesmere Port, Wrecsam, Heswall, Saltney a’r Wyddgrug. Yn ddiweddarach, bu’n rhaid rhedeg trenau o wahanol ardaloedd.

 

Roedd gan y ffatri ei brigâd dân, ei hysbyty, ei phwerdy, ei heddlu a’i ditectifs ei hun yn ogystal â dros 160 o dai i letya staff yr oedd angen iddynt aros ar y safle.

 

Merched oedd tua 70% o weithwyr yn y ffatri gemegol yn Sandycroft. Roeddent yn barod i wirfoddoli ar gyfer unrhyw fath o waith ‘no matter how hard or unpleasant it was’, and bravely carried on with production ‘in spite of persistent attacks of Tetryl rash.’

 

Roedd y gwaith yn anodd ac yn aml yn beryglus. Rhwng 1917 a 1918, cafwyd dros 3,000 achos o losgiadau asid, dros 2,000 o anafiadau i’r llygaid, dros 700 achos o dermatitis diwydiannol ac, at ei gilydd, dros 12,000 o ddamweiniau yn y ffatri, ond dim ond 4 a fu farw o ganlyniad i ddamwain ddiwydiannol.

 

Ymddengys, fodd bynnag, fod y merched yn ffynnu ac, yn ôl un astudiaeth, ‘they had gained in weight, were brighter and better in spirits, and felt stronger and better in health since taking up work at the Factory’.* Mae’n bosibl y gellid priodoli hyn i ymdeimlad o wladgarwch a’r gred eu bod yn gwneud rhywbeth defnyddiol y tu allan i’r cartref, i helpu eu gwlad yn ystod y Rhyfel.

 

(*H.M. Factory, Queensferry, Its History and Development’, BP 9216)

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