Canary Girls Ian Smith, 6 August 2019 War Germany invaded Belgium on 4 August 1914, leading Britain to declare war. In that first weekend, one hundred men an hour signed up to join the armed forces. By the end of the First World War over five million men had joined up. The rush to do one’s duty and fight at the front left a shortage of skilled workers in factories across Britain. Women who mainly did menial or domestic jobs at this time, were now recruited to work in industry. Even though there was a shortage of men to work in the factories, women were accused of taking jobs away from the ones who couldn’t fight. Women were also a cheaper workforce as they were paid less for doing the same job. Shell Shortage The nature of warfare changed dramatically during the First World War. Artillery had previously been a back up to soldiers but now became the main destructive force. In 1915 a crucial shortage of shells and munitions occurred. Parliament was forced to adopt a National Munitions Policy with David Lloyd George as Minister of Munitions. It controlled wages, hours and employment conditions in munitions factories. It also forced the factories to employ more women to help with the shortage. Munitions factories became the largest single employer of women with over 900,000 being employed in the industry. Even though they did the same job as the men they were paid half the wage. By June 1917 the factories that the women worked in produced over fifty million shells a year. At the end of the war the British Army had fired around 170 million shells during the conflict. Dangerous Work With the declaration of war many firms realised that there was an opportunity to increase sales. Local Munitions Committees were organised by engineering and metal producing firms. National Shell Factories (NSF) were set up all over the country. National Shell Factories took over existing buildings. Grangetown which had been used for spinning hemp and yarn, Festiniog Railway in Portmadoc and the Baldwins factory in Landore, Swansea were just a few of these. All of them produced varying weights of shell and shell heads. It was dangerous work and the risk of explosion was always present. There are many recorded cases of death and serious injury. Pembrey and the Canary Girls Nobels Explosives owned the site of a former dynamite factory at Pembrey, near Burry Port. With government approval in 1914, they opened one of the first purpose built TNT (trinitrotoluene) factories. The site was taken over by the Ministry of Munitions and became the National Explosives Factory (NEF) Pembrey by 1917 and closed at the end of the war. The work in this factory was heavy and dangerous and TNT was a highly poisonous substance. It contained picric acid which had the effect of turning the skin of the women who worked with it bright yellow - giving rise to the nickname canary girls. The women were given milk to drink to combat the effects of these dangerous compounds. It could lead to liver failure, anaemia and damage to the immune system. Around four hundred women died from overexposure to TNT during the First World War. Munitionette Football During the war, women became heavily involved in sports like football and cricket. Football teams were formed at munitions factories across Britain. The government actively encouraged the women to play sports as they believed it was good for their health and kept them fit to work in the factories. The North East of England was a hotspot of women’s football. Blythe Spartans Ladies FC were undefeated with their centre forward Bella Raey scoring 133 goals in one season. In 1918 thirty teams competed in the Munitionettes Cup. When the men returned from the front, the munition factories closed and the ladies teams disbanded. In 1921 the FA banned women from playing on any of their grounds even though they were just as popular on the pitch as the men teams. Men were returning to football and they believed there was no place for women n the game. It wasn’t until 1971 that the FA relented and allowed women to play at their grounds. Llanelli Ladies FC, 1921. Equality In 1915, the Women's War Workers Committee drew up a list of demands including the right to training, trade union membership and equal pay for equal work. Women who filled roles previously held by men were paid much less and were justifiably angry. Men were also concerned that women would continue in these jobs after the war and a lower pay rate would become normal. The first strike for equal pay in the UK happened in 1918 by women workers on London buses and trams. The Strike was successful and forced the government to look into whether the pay gap between sexes should be applied to all sections of industry. The War Cabinet set up a committee in 1917 to look into equality at work. The report was not published until 1919. It found no difference between the sexes with production or quality of work. But the view that women were less able than men still remained. Explosion in Pembrey As soon as the war ended, the munitions factory at Pembrey, Carmarthenshire was used to dismantle shells rather than to make them. On 18 November 1918, Mary Fitzmaurice (36), Jane Jenkins (21) and Edith Ellen Copham (19) were killed in an explosion. Two other women were injured. On the night of the fatal accident the women were dealing with a different type of shell than they had been used to. The explosion killed Jane immediately. Mary and Edith died in hospital that night. The women were all from Swansea and Edith and Mary were buried in Danygraig cemetery on the east side of the town. A huge funeral procession was led from High Street by a brass band and followed by 500 munition girls from the factory, wearing their uniforms. The South Wales Weekly Post said that the women ‘had died as surely in the service of their country as any on the battlefield’ and noted that the crowds of onlookers saluted as the funeral passed. Over a million shells were dismantle at Pembrey without any further accidents. The funeral of a munitions worker in Swansea.
The Gilbern – too good to be a ‘one-off’ Ian Smith, 30 July 2019 Gilbern is a name synonymous with Welsh car making. Over 1,000 vehicles were produced in a factory at Llantwit Fardre, in the Rhondda valley, between 1959 and 1974.The cars were the brainchild of Giles Smith and Bernard Friese; 'Gilbern' came out of a combination of their first names. Bernard was an engineer and Giles a butcher. Giles wanted to build his own car and Bernard had experience of working with fibreglass, so they worked together to produce a car that was destined to become the Gilbern GT. The first car was built in 1959 in a shed behind the butcher’s shop in Church Village near Pontypridd.Local racing driver Peter Cotterell was invited to view the car and loved it from the start. It was decided that the car was too good to be just a one-off and that they should form a company and go into production. Cotterell himself owned many Gilbern GTs and modified them for racing.The original mechanical parts were from Austins and Austin Healeys, although Cotterell fitted a number of different engines in his racing cars, including 1600 MGA and 1800 MGB engines. One car, made for racer Ken Wilson, had a 4.5 litre V8 Chevrolet engine and a Jaguar independent rear axle! Gilbern Invaders on show at an owners’ rally in 2009 In 1961, the pair bought premises in Llantwit Fadre and started production in earnest. At first the company produced one car a month, but by 1965 production had increased to four a month.In 1966 a new car, the Gilbern Genie, was produced. This was a bigger family car than the sporty GT, and with a V6 Ford engine it had plenty of power. The GT 1800 was produced in tandem with the Genie for a little while, but was then gradually phased out in 1967.The company never made huge sums of money but Giles and Bernard kept the company ticking over until April 1968, when it was sold to the ACE Group, which was based near the Gilbern factory. Gilbern GTs on show at an owners’ rally in 2009 Giles and Bernard were to stay on as directors but Giles left soon after the takeover. Bernard stayed for about a year before he also left the company.The Genie was replaced by the Gilbern Invader Marks I, II, and by 1972 a Mark III; an Invader Estate was also built in 1971.The company produced the exciting prototype two-seater sports car – the T11. Only one of these was built and the model never went into production. This T11 is still around, though; it's been fully restored and looks fantastic! The Gilbern T11 only got as far as the prototype stage From 1972 to 1974 the company struggled to make a profit and, even with a succession of investors, it finally closed in 1974.We have three Gilberns in our collection at Amgueddfa Cymru – National Museum Wales. One, a Gilbern GT Mark 1, is on display at the National Waterfront Museum in Swansea. The other two Gilberns are normally to be found in the National Collections Centre in Nantgarw and are brought out from time to time for exhibitions or special displays. Both are Gilbern Invaders – a Mark II which is green and a Mark III automatic in purple. The Mark III was the last production model to be made by the company, but they did produce two prototypes which never went into production.Following a suggestion that the Invader would make a good police car the company extended one to make a four-door version – four doors being needed to allow passengers or prisoners to get in the back easily. This idea never came to fruition, though.
Fire in the Mill Mark Lucas, 9 July 2019 In 1900, the Dre-fach Felindre area was home to 52 mills in full production. During World War One the Welsh woollen industry was employed in the war effort producing blankets and uniforms for the armed forces. Welsh grey homespun known as Brethyn Llwyd uniforms were commissioned by the War Office to give a nationalistic distinction to the new recruits of the new Welsh Army Corps formed during the war. After the war 12 million yards of surplus flannel was sold on the open market by the government at ridiculously low prices, forcing woollen manufactures to also cut their prices. Flannel shirts, for example, sold at 52s 6d a dozen in 1916; by 1923 the price had dropped to 38 shillings. The woollen manufactures of west Wales failed to meet the changing conditions after the war, with some still producing inferior Angola as they had done in war time. Most of the manufacturers still concentrated on the production of flannel for shirts, vests and drovers, but demand for underwear flannel fell rapidly with the introduction of knitted underwear produced by the hosiery manufactures of the East Midlands, Scotland and the north of England. On 11 July 1919 Cambrian Mills caught fire and the three-storey mill south building was destroyed. At the time of the fire the Mill manager, John Davies, was on holiday in Llanwrtyd Wells with his family. His daughter Nesta Morgan remembers her father receiving a telegram at the hotel, but he was unable to read it as it was in English. A passing gentleman read the telegram telling him that part of the mill had been destroyed by fire. Her father was very upset and contacted David Lewis immediately to ask if he should come home; David Lewis responded that he should not but rather return the next day as planned. David Lewis on the left of the photograph with the moustache and hat in the remains of Cambrian Mills David Lewis used the insurance money to rebuild the mill only two storeys high, but considerably longer in length. Rebuilt Cambrian Mills Rebuilt Cambrian Mills Cracked glass in Mill North from the heat of the fire in Mill South that is still visible at the National Wool Museum The fire in Cambrian Mills was the first of 7 suspicious fires in mills in Dre-fach and the surrounding area, including mills at Frondeg and Meiros owned by David Lewis’s brothers Daniel and John Lewis respectively. Not all mills were rebuilt after the fire, however insurance companies were becoming suspicious that the fires were not accidents and insisted that the mills were rebuilt. Meiros was rebuilt in red bricks with the insurance monies paid in instalments as work was carried out. Rebuilt Meiros Mill Another 21 factories closed in Dre-fach Felindre and the surrounding area in the post-war period. ‘[Mill owners who made vast profits from war contracts] made no attempt to set their mills on a sound financial basis, content to bank the money or buy seaside cottages’ Geraint Jenkins 1967, the Welsh Woollen Industry, p. 278 Dyffryn Mill 29/6/1923 Frondeg Mill 7/2/1924 Aberbanc Mill 1926 Ogof Mill 1927 Other Mills destroyed by fire: Meiros in the 1920s Llwynhelyg Mill 1927 Llainffald Mill 1920s Mills closed in Drefach Felindre and the surrounding area: Babel 1925 Cilwendeg 1928 Cwm-ty-mawr 1920 Glyn Mills 1930 Llwynbedw 1920 Pant-glas 1922 Spring Gardens 1925 Bach-y-gwyddil 1923 Cwm-gilfach 1923 Drefach 1923 Green Meadow 1928 Nant-y-bargoed 1925 Penwalk 1928 Ty Main 1923 Cawdor 1924 Cwm-pen-graig 1922 Felin-fach 1924 Henfryn 1920 Pandy 1920 Siop Pensarn 1921 Tower Hill 1925
The Prince of Wales Investiture chair Mark Lucas, 3 July 2019 This chair was designed by Lord Snowdon for the investiture of Prince Charles on 1 July 1969. 4,600 of these chairs were made for seating guests inside Caernarfon Castle. The chair was used by Iorwerth Howells, director of education for Carmarthenshire, who was invited to the investiture as one of the representatives for that county. The frame is made from steamed beech and the seat and back of preformed plywood veneered with olive ash. The whole is stained vermilion and sealed with a clear acid catalyst lacquer. The chairs were made at Remploy factories in Treforest and Wrexham. The investiture of Prince Charles on 1 July 1969 at Caernarfon Castle The fabric is made from Welsh red flannel made by David Lewis Limited of Cambrian Mills in Drefach Felindre, now home to the National Wool Museum. 2,650 yards of cloth were produced at 18/- per yard. The Prince of Wales’s feathers were embossed in gold leaf by the Ferndale Book Company. After the ceremony the chairs were offered for sale at £12.00 each. Invited guests had first refusal and the remaining chairs were sold to the public. The original sample sent to the department of works for checking
Cymru Yfory Jennifer Evans, 5 June 2019 The Investiture of the Prince of the Wales at Caernarfon Castle made 1969 a particularly exciting year in Wales. And an exhibition held at National Museum Cardiff reflected the patriotic fervour of the investiture with the wonder and excitement of the first humans on the moon during the Apollo 11 mission with Cymru Yfory – Wales Tomorrow. It was held in the Main Hall and was the museum’s official contribution towards the celebrations of Investiture Year. As the forward in the catalogue put it: "If a National Museum chooses to open its doors to contributions from the designer’s studio, the market place, the planner’s office or the research laboratory, no precedent is necessary. The Victoria & Albert Museum did these things excitedly in 1946 in the exhibition, Britain can make it . We saw then, after many drab years, a splash of enterprise and colour and an unexpected promise for the future. For its main contribution to the year of the Investiture and of Croeso ’69 [a year long campaign to promote Welsh tourism and business built around the Investiture], the NMW has chosen deliberately to look beyond its ordinary boundaries and also to look into the future. It has invited contributions from organisations of all sorts and the brief has been simple: that the ideas presented should be imaginative and for the future. They are not promises; they may not even be pleasant, but at least they refer to aspects of a possible future…" Stands and ceiling display [with the General Post Office stand to the left] The exhibition represented a major break with the traditions of the Museum; it was showing that it had an interest not only in the past, but in the life of the community in the present and the future. The whole of the Main Hall was used – isolated from the rest of the Museum by hanging drapes and a magnificent inflated plastic ceiling. For the first time professional designers were commissioned to design and plan the exhibition; Alan Taylor (Senior Designer, BBC Wales TV) and John Wright (Principal of Newport College of Art) co-ordinated the design of exhibits contributed by over twenty organisations. The results were spectacular, an immediate surprise to every visitor who had known the Main Hall as a dignified setting for classical sculpture. The range and imagination of the stands on display at this 1969 exhibition were vast; they included ideas and plans for the Cardiff of the future, for the valleys, for the Severn Estuary and for housing and schools. Some were realistic but most were fantastical and frivolous – especially exhibits illustrating clothing, furniture and domestic habits of the future. A major contributor was General Industrial Plastics Limited, manufacturers and designers of plastic products who made the magnificent inflated ceiling display, pieces of air filled furniture and the plastic carrier bag provided with the official catalogue. Cardiff College of Art, the National Coal Board, the City of Cardiff, the General Post Office and British Rail also contributed stands. As part of the fun atmosphere, a spoof contributor named Kumro Kemicals Corporation was created. The catalogue states they were established in 1999 (bear in mind this event took place in 1969!) and that their products were “the result of the most intensive research programme ever undertaken by any corporation in the Western Hemisphere…” As part of their contribution, Kumro produced sealed envelopes bearing the following message, DO NOT OPEN UNTIL 1999 – and the Library still holds one of these that remains unopened! When publishing images, copyright issues need to be considered and a number of these photographs are stamped on the reverse with either Hylton Warner & Co Ltd or Giovanni Gemin (Whitchurch Road, Cardiff). Internet searches brought up a little information on Hylton Warner but nothing current and no information at all was found concerning Giovanni Gemin. Therefore, a notice was placed on the Photo Archive News website requesting communication from anyone who might be familiar with these two photographers. After some time, we were contacted by the son of Giovanni Gemin. Award-winning author Giancarlo Gemin was kind enough to grant permission to publish the photographs and also tell us the following about his father: "He was an industrial and commercial photographer based in Cardiff from 1961. He worked regularly for BBC Wales, and was one of the official photographers at the investiture of the Prince of Wales. He was awarded the Chartered Institute of Incorporated Photographers (AIIP) and an Associate of Master Photographers (AMPA)". Models standing beneath the clear plastic ceiling installation As well as items of ephemera such as the official catalogue, carrier bag, stickers etc. we are fortunate to hold two volumes of comments books. These are a fascinating record of visitors’ thoughts and the majority are very positive but, not everyone appreciated looking to the future instead of a classical past and to end this post, here are just a few that have made us smile: BW, Rhwibina – "Awful" RM, Rhondda – "Not as good as the British Museum" MB, Cheltenham – "Baffled!" MD, Durham – "I prefer the face of OLD WALES proud and noble not false and plastic" CS, Cardiff – "Needs dusting" L, Cardiff – "Rubbish, waste of good museum space!" TO, County Cork – "TRASH" Inflatable ceiling display in process of construction We also recently made contact with Drake Educational Associates who purchased Hylton Warner along with copyright of all their photographs a number of years ago. We thank them also for allowing us to use the images in this article.
