51410: A Day in the Life of a Munitions Worker

Manual work done by women at a British munitions factory, spring 1917. The young woman leaves her terraced house (section tinted blue) at 5am and takes the train to the factory (tinting ends). In the locker room she and the others change into overalls and boots, and clock on. She works on finishing 8-inch shells, pouring molten explosive in to top the cases up, capping them using a wheel to clear the screw threads, adding the detonator and stencilling them. A trolley takes another batch away. Other women, wearing masks against the fumes, top up heavier shells. The women are given a brief medical examination on site, lasting no more than a few seconds. In one suspect case a blood sample is taken. The women wear shifts to wash, which is compulsory before meals and on leaving the factory. A final close-up of the young woman, pretty without her mask and almost coy, 'working for victory'. According to an article in the Nottingham Evening Post, Saturday 8 February 2003, the factory shown is the National Shell-Filling Factory at Chilwell, Nottingham. It was destroyed in an explosion July 1 1918, with great loss of life. The railway station shown at the beginning is Attenborough station, according to the same source.