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| Rules were strict in an ammunition factory! |
In the mid 1800s, the area around Witton was described as a “countryside of babbling brooks, smiling meadows and green trees, amidst which the song of the cuckoo was heard as early as in any part of rural England.” It was this open landscape that attracted the ammunition makers from nearby Birmingham, as the manufacture of ammunition, with its use of highly explosive chemicals, was not the trade for a built up town. In 1859 the ammunition factory of Pursall And Phillip’s on Birmingham’s busy, built-up Whittall Street exploded killing 19 people, all but one being girls aged between 10 and 31 years. Women and girls were often employed to make ammunition as it was thought they were more dextrous, as well as more careful with the explosive materials. Due to the fatal explosion of 1859, Pursall and Phillip’s moved their manufactory to a site near the River Tame in Witton, their employee, George Kynoch, taking over within the next few years. Kynoch named the manufactory the Lion Works, using a lion as his trademark, and began to build the business from a few wooden sheds.
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| Interior, 1889. |
The business that became one of the greatest ammunition manufactories in the world was initiated with Kynoch at the helm and twelve young girls working alongside; they began by trundling a shed on rollers from the Birmingham factory to the new site, and building a new shed next door. Within five years the site had grown considerably, becoming a large manufactory consisting of workshops, loading sheds and a tall brick chimney. Kynoch concentrated on making the gun cartridges and left a confident 22 year old, called Mrs. McNab, in charge of making percussion caps; under her management the caps made at Witton developed a ‘world-wide reputation’ and in the early 1880s trade reached its peak at 449 million per year.* Under Mrs. McNab’s supervision there were no serious explosions in the percussion cap works, which is more than can be said for Mr. Kynoch’s cartridge works, which spotted the local newspapers with stories of explosions, injuries and deaths. There was, understandably, public outcry, but for the Victorians the dangers of industrial work were well known and the conclusions were that these tragic mishaps were accidental deaths in a process well known to be dangerous, and workers were well paid (for the period) for their work.
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| Kynoch factory in 1889. Held at Birmingham Archive. |
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| Lion sculpture and church? for workers. |
Due to the explosive nature of the substances used in the manufacture of ammunition, it was important to follow the rules laid down. This booklet was produced in October 1899 for Kynoch's Lion Works in Witton.
The front page notes that "During the period of the War, employees are engaged in the understanding that they agree to contribute at the standard weekly rate in the Kynoch War Fund for the maintenance of Highbury Hospital for Wounded Soldiers". I'm uncertain which was is being referred to here, as the Second Boer War only began 11th October 1899; it seems likely that this was a general statement referring to what was expected during any conflict. Perhaps this was a reaction from Kynoch's to criticism about their manufacture of, literally, the ammunition of war.
Number 4 seems obvious! "No workpeople shall smoke within the Factory", but it seems a shame that number 9 disallowed, as often the clothing clubs were a useful way for the poor to save up for essential items. They would pay a little into the club each week, and then when something was needed they could get the items required.
Nice to see that some thought to the safety of the workers is put into the rules with numbers 15, 16 & 17!
And there we have it......fancy a job at Kynoch's?
