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.
141 Days of the Battle of the Somme and its impact on the district
The majority of men that had committed themselves to the service of the Nation prior to the start of the Battle of the Somme had been willing and enthusiastic volunteers. However they were still raw and inexperienced recruits having recently left their passive and ordinary civilian lives behind.
Many of the recruits from the area were drafted into the local infantry Battalions. The 15th West Yorks 'Leeds Pals', 16 & 18th 'Bradford Pals', the 7 & 8th 'Leeds Rifles' the 6th & 10th West Yorkshire Regiment Territorials, Kings Own Yorkshire Light Infantry and Green Howards are by now familiar names to us.
These Regiments drawn from the North of England would be the man power intended to inflict a heavy defeat on the German Army in the summer of 1916.
Im not going to explore what happened on the Battlefield in detail. Instead first it is important to consider the home front of June 1916:
The majority of the eligible men had already joined up by this time, or were being conscripted. The local workforce had been supplemented by the women of the town, youngsters working longer hours and Belgian refugees. For the housewives of Pudsey this meant working extremely hard trying to manage factory and domestic life without support. Many men unfit for service and thousands of women were asked to work in the local shell factories at Newlay (Horsforth) Armley and Phoenix Dynamo at Thornbury. This was dangerous and exhausting, though the rates of pay were excellent to relect the hazards. Added to this was the war draining food resources meaning that rationing was introduced for the first time and people had to grow their own food in allotments. Meanwhile in France, men horses and guns were being moved into the Somme region in preparation for the largest British led campaign yet seen.
Many of the recruits from the area were drafted into the local infantry Battalions. The 15th West Yorks 'Leeds Pals', 16 & 18th 'Bradford Pals', the 7 & 8th 'Leeds Rifles' the 6th & 10th West Yorkshire Regiment Territorials, Kings Own Yorkshire Light Infantry and Green Howards are by now familiar names to us.
These Regiments drawn from the North of England would be the man power intended to inflict a heavy defeat on the German Army in the summer of 1916.
Im not going to explore what happened on the Battlefield in detail. Instead first it is important to consider the home front of June 1916:
The majority of the eligible men had already joined up by this time, or were being conscripted. The local workforce had been supplemented by the women of the town, youngsters working longer hours and Belgian refugees. For the housewives of Pudsey this meant working extremely hard trying to manage factory and domestic life without support. Many men unfit for service and thousands of women were asked to work in the local shell factories at Newlay (Horsforth) Armley and Phoenix Dynamo at Thornbury. This was dangerous and exhausting, though the rates of pay were excellent to relect the hazards. Added to this was the war draining food resources meaning that rationing was introduced for the first time and people had to grow their own food in allotments. Meanwhile in France, men horses and guns were being moved into the Somme region in preparation for the largest British led campaign yet seen.
141 Days of the Somme - Roll of Honour of those who fell
Please remember when reading these names that this battle on its own was more deadly for our servicemen than the Second World War. 37 were lost on the first day alone, and 104 in total during the 141 days of the battle until it was halted. These were ordinary lives given in the Service of the Nation - they were woollen mill workers, teachers, cinema projectionists, sons of the Lord Mayor and owners of local factories, all came together. In the words of England Cricketer and Leeds Pal 2nd Lieutenant Major William Booth “It is our duty, we cannot do anything else.”
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.
Below is a gallery of some of their experiences.
Below is a gallery of some of their experiences.
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.
The Home Front - Phoenix Dynamo Factory at Thornbury: Shells and Seaplanes
© IWM Women's Canteen at Phoenix Works Bradford, by Flora Lion
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). Phoenix Dynamo as a firm employed about 4,000 employees 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
© IWM Building Flying-Boats by Flora Lion - this picture shows Phoenix Dynamo workers constructing Felixstowe F3 flying boats at the Thornbury factory
Captain Robert “Roddie” Salter of the Leeds Rifles and future Captain of industry lost on the Somme
