The First World War had a tremendous impact on the Town of Pudsey from August 1914 until long after the Armistice and the signing of the Treaty of Versailles. Many of the Town’s mills provided cloth for uniforms and boots for the Army, and the foundries and crane works of Stanningley produced the ironworking needed as the Nation Mobilised. Most importantly many of the Town’s men volunteered for service in the armed forces until Conscription came into force on 2 March 1916. The Act specified that men from 18 to 41 years old were liable to be called up for service in the army unless they were married, widowed with children, serving in the Royal Navy, a minister of religion, or working in one of a number of reserved occupations. A second Act in May 1916 extended liability for military service to married men, and a third Act in 1918 extended the upper age limit to 51. This meant that the women and young people of the Town were expected to contribute to the War effort in their absence.
The United Kingdom experienced 723,000 deaths directly as a consequence of the war and the Empire total was over one million. It was calculated that if the dead marched four abreast down Whitehall it would take over three and a half days for them to pass the Cenotaph, the line of marching men would stretch back to Durham. Over 6 million UK service personnel served and 30% of men aged 20-24 in 1914 died.
Heritage Open Day Pudsey Town Hall 2018 Exhibition Collection
Thank you to everyone that came along to the Heritage Open Day weekend hosted by Pudsey & District Civic Society and supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund.
These are highlights of the exhibition and the information panels to view. All items are copyright of Pudsey & District Civic Society and the Heritage Lottery Fund.
These are highlights of the exhibition and the information panels to view. All items are copyright of Pudsey & District Civic Society and the Heritage Lottery Fund.
Introduction - please click on each image to read
The Pudsey Pals and Major Booth
Pork Pies and German families in Pudsey / Pudsey families in Germany
Pudsey men in the Bradford Pals / Sad fate of Orlando Snowden
The Leigh Mills Pals of Stanningley
The Ramsden Family - Pudsey‘s saddest tale of loss
The Home Front - Phoenix Dynamo Factory at Thornbury: Shells and Seaplanes
© IWM Women's Canteen at Phoenix Works Bradford, by official War artist Flora Lion (this canteen had been opened by King George V).
A model factory that became a blueprint for the National War Effort
In June 1903 a capital investment of £60,000 was used to establish the Phoenix Dynamo Manufacturing Company at Thornbury Works, Leeds Old Road (now the site of B&Q).
After 1914, Phoenix Dynamo as a firm rapidly expanded to employ about 4,000 men and women (the ratio of men to women was to drastically change during the war years), and was now in addition to its ordinary dynamo motors, producing "miscellaneous munitions supplies".
During the First World War Phoenix Dynamo produced millions of shells, a large quantity of machine tools and the fastest and biggest sea planes and flying boats. The factory was contracted to produce 30,000 6 inch shells for the Battle of the Somme, they upgraded production to make 7 different shell sizes. A tramway was built to connect the English Electric foundry on Dick Lane with the Phoenix that passed through the Thornbury Farm.
The workforce were expected to work under segregation of the sexes and fraternisation was frowned upon by the factory foremen. The wonderful portrait of the women’s canteen by Flora Lion shows a typical scene in our munitions factories with the Ladies taking a well deserved shift break. It is important to remember that these women were still expected to be home makers and support their families whilst their husbands were abroad with the Armed Forces, whilst working long hours in dangerous conditions.
Flora Lion was a portrait, landscape and genre painter and lithographer. She had a long career painting portraits of the distinguished and socially prominent, also produced landscapes, murals and lithographs. During the First World War, she was commissioned to paint factory scenes of the home front.
After the Armistice in November 1918 Phoenix Dynamo merged with four other businesses to form English Electric and Phoenix Dynamo became English Electric's centre for electric motor and generator design.
After 1914, Phoenix Dynamo as a firm rapidly expanded to employ about 4,000 men and women (the ratio of men to women was to drastically change during the war years), and was now in addition to its ordinary dynamo motors, producing "miscellaneous munitions supplies".
During the First World War Phoenix Dynamo produced millions of shells, a large quantity of machine tools and the fastest and biggest sea planes and flying boats. The factory was contracted to produce 30,000 6 inch shells for the Battle of the Somme, they upgraded production to make 7 different shell sizes. A tramway was built to connect the English Electric foundry on Dick Lane with the Phoenix that passed through the Thornbury Farm.
The workforce were expected to work under segregation of the sexes and fraternisation was frowned upon by the factory foremen. The wonderful portrait of the women’s canteen by Flora Lion shows a typical scene in our munitions factories with the Ladies taking a well deserved shift break. It is important to remember that these women were still expected to be home makers and support their families whilst their husbands were abroad with the Armed Forces, whilst working long hours in dangerous conditions.
Flora Lion was a portrait, landscape and genre painter and lithographer. She had a long career painting portraits of the distinguished and socially prominent, also produced landscapes, murals and lithographs. During the First World War, she was commissioned to paint factory scenes of the home front.
After the Armistice in November 1918 Phoenix Dynamo merged with four other businesses to form English Electric and Phoenix Dynamo became English Electric's centre for electric motor and generator design.
A working day at Phoenix Dynamo Munitions Factory - includes children’s creche and women’s canteen footage
Seaplanes, being built in the heart of the country with no water in sight!
The planes built at Phoenix Dynamo were the:
Phoenix P.5 Cork, Short Type 184, Felixstowe F.3, Felixstowe F.5, Fairey N.4 and the Armstrong Whitworth F.K.10 built with Christopher Pratt and Sons.
As well as the sea planes, the Phoenix was also commissioned to reverse engineer captured German Zeppelins. Imagine the surprise of the Thornbury residents when these giant airships were quietly parked at the back of their houses under a strict blackout under the official secrets act!
Phoenix P.5 Cork, Short Type 184, Felixstowe F.3, Felixstowe F.5, Fairey N.4 and the Armstrong Whitworth F.K.10 built with Christopher Pratt and Sons.
As well as the sea planes, the Phoenix was also commissioned to reverse engineer captured German Zeppelins. Imagine the surprise of the Thornbury residents when these giant airships were quietly parked at the back of their houses under a strict blackout under the official secrets act!
© IWM Building Flying-Boats by Flora Lion - this picture shows Phoenix Dynamo workers constructing Felixstowe F3 flying boats at the Thornbury factory
Heritage Open Day Pudsey Town Hall 2014 Exhibition Collection
Danger on the Home Front - the Low Moor explosion that nearly wiped out Bradford
On August 21st 1916 a fire broke out at the Bradford Low Moor Munitions Factory. This caused a chain reaction in the highly unstable Picric Acid store. A massive explosion followed and a bigger tragedy was averted by the quick actions of the Bradford Fire Brigade. 40 people died including many from the Fire Brigade and hundreds of others were wounded.
The factory was next to the train line and the man in the signal box telephoned in the explosion set his signal to red to stop the trains and escaped in time before his signal box was destroyed in the explosions. The fire also spread to the nearby Bradford Gas works, the gasometer exploded sending up a huge fireball. The explosions continued for the rest of the day and it took 3 more days to put the fire out completely. The factory and gas works were destroyed, a neighbouring factory seriously damaged. 50 houses had to be demolished and 2000 were badly damaged (windows blown out, chimneys down, doors off hinges, ceilings down, roof tiles broken). Train lines were ruined, 30 railway carriages destroyed, 100 badly damaged. 3 schools had to close – one didn’t reopen until the following January.
Low Moor was Bradford’s main manufacturing centre and a valuable piece of the Nation’s War Effort. The accident had the potential to devastate a much larger area and its very fortunate that the thousands of workers and local residents didn’t suffer more death and damage.
The factory was next to the train line and the man in the signal box telephoned in the explosion set his signal to red to stop the trains and escaped in time before his signal box was destroyed in the explosions. The fire also spread to the nearby Bradford Gas works, the gasometer exploded sending up a huge fireball. The explosions continued for the rest of the day and it took 3 more days to put the fire out completely. The factory and gas works were destroyed, a neighbouring factory seriously damaged. 50 houses had to be demolished and 2000 were badly damaged (windows blown out, chimneys down, doors off hinges, ceilings down, roof tiles broken). Train lines were ruined, 30 railway carriages destroyed, 100 badly damaged. 3 schools had to close – one didn’t reopen until the following January.
Low Moor was Bradford’s main manufacturing centre and a valuable piece of the Nation’s War Effort. The accident had the potential to devastate a much larger area and its very fortunate that the thousands of workers and local residents didn’t suffer more death and damage.