Munitionettes and Canary Girls

In autumn 2016 the National Waterfront Museum in Swansea hosted an exhibition about the women recruited to work in munitions factories during the First World War. Nicknamed ‘Munitionettes’ or ‘Canary Girls’, they found the hazardous, heavy work brought them a new freedom, such as work outside the home and even fame on the football pitch.

The rush to do one’s duty and fight at the front left a shortage of skilled male workers in factories across Britain. Women, most of whom did not work, were in domestic service or previously did menial, unskilled work, were now recruited to work in industry. The Shell Crisis in 1915 led to a new Government department, with David Lloyd George as the first Minister of Munitions. Lloyd George was credited with driving increased supply. Munitions factories became the largest single employer of women in the UK, with over 900,000 being employed in the industry. Even though they did the same job as the men, and often worked 12-hour shifts, they were paid half the wage. By June 1917 the factories that the women worked in produced over fifty million shells a year. By the end of the war the British Army had fired around 170 million shells. At the National Explosives Factory, located at Pembrey, near Burry Port, the women worked with TNT – 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’. During the war, women became more involved in sports such as football and cricket. Football teams were formed at munitions factories across Britain and the government actively encouraged the women to take part as they believed it was good for their health and kept them fit to work in the factories. This exhibition explored the personal stories of some of the women and toured some of the other National Museum Wales sites.

Left: Heavy cotton khaki overall and cap worn by a woman working in a munitions factory. Location and wearer unknown. Donated to the National Museum of Wales in 1919. © Amgueddfa Cymru – National Museum Wales