A woman munitions worker carrying a shell apparently drops another one on the foot of a frightened man who clearly does not realize, as she does, that they are not in danger. No doubt his foot hurt.
La Femme et la Guerre.Leroy - Aux munitions.Women and the WarTo the munitions.Signed: FFLeroy?Reverse:No. 139 - P, J. Gallais et Cie, éditeurs, 38, Rue Vignon.Paris, Visé no. 139.No. 139 - P, J. Gallais and Company, publishers, 38 Rue Vignon.
"England is very proud of the pluck, endurance, and determination of her munition girls—The twenty-six women who were killed and the thirty wounded in that explosion in a North of England factory on Tuesday night had, like thousands of other munitions workers, faced the possibility of that fate hourly, and probably faced it with jest. Yet knowing that, and realising their kinship with the men who keep their souls unshaken in the trenches, we may marvel at the courage, and above all at the perfect discipline, which after the disaster kept the other girls in the factory imperturbably at their work."
Excerpt from the Manchester Guardian, December 8, 1916 referring to the explosion on the 5th at the Barnbow Munitions Factory near Leeds. As many as 35 women and 3 men were killed in the explosion. At its peak, the factory employed 16,000 women and 1,000 men. The women were sometimes called 'Barnbow Canaries,' because some of the chemicals they worked with turned skin and hair yellow.
The Virago Book of Women and the Great War by Joyce Marlow, Editor, pp. 171–172, copyright © Joyce Marlow 1998, publisher: Virago Press, publication date: 1999
1916-12-08, 1916, December, Barnbow explosion, Barnbow, explosion, munitions worker
