The history of Eltham in just 20 objects ........Nu 7, down at the Arsenal

Now there is every chance that none of these eleven women came from Eltham or even lived here, but on the other hand they might have done.

The Progress Estate is testimony to the many people who came from all over the country to work at the Arsenal.

And as we uncover more personal stories of the hutments it is fitting that this picture should be included in the 20 objects

There is no printed caption and it has been left to someone to write “Woolwich Arsenal Girls.”

Location; Woolwich

Picture; Woolwich Arsenal Girls, date unknown, from the collection of David Harrop

Faces from the Royal Arsenal

I doubt we will ever get to know the identity of these eleven women and one man.

I can’t even offer up a date or a location, although judging by the background I think we are in a photographer’s studio.

All of which leaves us with many unanswered questions.

At the end of the war the Royal Arsenal employed some 50,000 men and 250,000 women and girls of which only 10,000 men would be trained after the Armistice which raises the question of what happened to out 11?

All of which leaves us to look more closely at the photograph.

They vary in age and while most are single some are married and I am intrigued by the triangular badge worn by four of the eleven.

After 1915 both men and women munitions workers were issued with brass enamelled badges but these are different.

I have no idea what it ithe badge was for but have asked around and will start doing some serious research but of course if anyone knows that will help.

But like their names I think this is a closed bit of history.

Just possibly someone might recognise one of the faces staring back at us and may even be able to match it against an old battered and treasured picture.

This I know however is pushing the boat out and the chances are very slim., which would make it a rare achievement to put a name to the face of one of 250,000 women and girls of the Royal Arsenal.

But you never know.

We shall see.

Location; Woolwich












Picture; munitions workers at the Royal Arsenal, date unknown from the collection of David Harrop

Memories of Woolwich Arsenal

Now of all the pictures in the collection of the Woolwich Arsenal this one I suppose best sums up what was done behind the high walls just beyond Beresford Square.

This is the Bullet Factory, and while others in the collection show the Brass Foundry, Machine Shops, Wood workshop and the Boring Mill here is the end bit of one of the processes.

Hence the Arsenal’s name and its importance particularly when Britain was at war.
And also to the livelihood of many in Woolwich and the surrounding area.

After all the Progress Estate in Well Hall was built to house munitions workers and so many of us who grew up in Eltham are linked to what went on in Woolwich.

I grew up on the Progress Estate as did my friend  Jean and some of her family were employed in that giant plant which at its heyday gave work to 80,000 people and covered 1285 acres.

She remembered that,

“my grandfather and grandmother met working in the Arsenal, may be around the year 1905.

My grandfather had moved down from Norfolk and was an engineer.

They lived with her family in Plumstead, and my dad, the youngest of 5 boys was born at the granny’s house.

Dad was born in 1914 and the family were one of first to move into Love Lace Green.

It’s sad but dad’s mum passed away when he was 3 yrs old in 1917.

My grandfather then met and married another Arsenal girl. 

They all lived at Love Lace Green till 1957, when grandparents died and mum and dad moved to Well Hall Road.

Before my mother went into nursing at the beginning of the Second World War she worked on MUNITIONS, as she called it at the Arsenal.

She never told me much but that when she used to open the drums of CORDITE, THE RATS USED TO RUN UP HER ARMS."

Now any one who has walked around an old textile mill dating from the 19th century will be aware of those leather belts running from the machinery to rods in the roof which in turn were connected to drives.

And here they are each machine with its own belt running off towards the roof.

Picture; the Bullet Factory, Arsenal, Woolwich from the collection of Mark Flynn, http://www.markfynn.com/london-postcards.htm

"She works at Woolwich Arsenal Now" ......... a song from 1916 and a choir for today ..... the Woolwich Singers

I have no idea if “She works at Woolwich Arsenal Now” was sung by my grandfather or any of our family who served with the Colours during the Great War.

The song sheet, 1916

But I bet it would have been popular on the Progress Estate which had been built to house workers at the Arsenal.

And the romantic in me wonders if the first resident of the house in Well Hall where we lived sung the song on his way to work.

This was Basil Nunn and if he didn’t sing it then at least he would have known of it.

“She works at Woolwich Arsenal Now” was written and composed by Robert Donnelly in 1916 and told of a wounded soldier who received a letter from his girlfriend announcing that she was working at the Royal Arsenal.

And it pretty much had the lot, he was wounded and in France, she was doing her bit amongst the shells and guns in Woolwich and both were working for a common cause.

So the chorus must have seemed all the more significant to both munitions girl and soldier with its repeated refrain

"I work at Woolwich Arsenal now,
"Give my message to your chums,
"Girls are working ‘midst the shells and guns
"Altho’ ‘tis tiring, as you’re requiring ammunition for the fighting line,
"We’ll do our share for you out there."

Working in the Arsenal, circa 1916

Now I would like to know more about Robert Donnelley but so far I have only been able to find a few references on the electoral rolls for the years just before the Great War and of course this might not be him.

But if it was, then in 1911 he was at 46 Waverley Road in Plumstead where he rented three unfurnished rooms, one basement and two first floor rooms for six shillings a week from a W.J. Weeks.

He also appears on various electoral rolls back to 1902 and possibly onto 1954, but is absent from the census returns saving 1891 when a young Robert Donnelley is living at home with his parents in Plumstead.*

And by one of those nice bits of coincidence his father was an “overseer at the Royal Arsenal.”

Laughter on the Steps, the Woolwich Singers, 2014

So we have almost come full circle but not quite, because the inspiration for the story came from James who lives on the Progress Estate and came across a reference to the song.

And by by another nice twist "She Works at Woolwich Arsenal Now" was first unearthed by a member of the Woolwich Singers who are a “are a community choir, which rehearses weekly on Wednesdays from 6.30 – 8pm at the Clockhouse Community Centre, Defiance Walk, Woolwich Dockyard, Woolwich SE18 5QL."**

The aim of our choir is to sing together, meet new people and have fun!
No one has to sing by themselves and there is no audition to join.

We sing a mixture of traditional and pop songs – something for everyone, and everyone is welcome.”
And that I think would have been something Mr Donnelley would have approved of.

Either way you can judge for yourself  with this version by the singers of that song.***

And the original inspiration from James can be seen at The Progress Estate, Eltham, SE9 http://progressestate.blogspot.co.uk/2015/01/she-works-at-woolwich-arsenal-now.html

Pictures; cover of “She works at Woolwich Arsenal Now” courtesy of  Greenwich Heritage Centre, www.greenwichheritage.org T Tube Factory, Woolwich Arsenal, from the collection of Mark Flynn, post card dealer, http://www.markfynn.com/london-postcards.htm

*Enu 9 46, Plumstead East, Plumstead, 1891

** Woolwich Singers, www.woolwichsingers.co.uk/

***“She works at Woolwich Arsenal Now” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J_wzpJ5E-Ds

What a difference 40 years makes, outside the Royal Arsenal in Woolwich

Sometimes a picture takes you right back and reminds me just how things have changed in a comparatively short period of time.

So here I am at the gate of the Arsenal in the autumn of last year.

Now the redevelopment of Woolwich has passed me by and looking at the photograph taken by our Colin I have to say it is pretty unfamiliar.

I recognise the entrance and have to say that it is looking better than I remember it back in the early 1970s but the surrounding area might as well be a scene from Planet Zogg and if it weren’t for the Arsenal I would be hard pressed to tell you where it was.

Which I why Jean’s photograph of the same spot in 1977 is so valuable, allowing me not only to fix the scene as it was when I used to walk past but is another reminder of just how quickly places can change within the space of two generations.

So thank you to Jean who has unearthed a whole collection of images of Eltham and Woolwich as it was.
And of course I am not going to pass off the opportunity of showing many more of them.

Pictures; the Arsenal in September 2013, from the collection of Colin Fitzpatrick and the Arsenal in 1977 courtesy of Jean Gammons

T Tube Factory, Woolwich Arsenal, now that's a zippy title

Now I don’t have a date for this post card of T Tube Factory, Woolwich Arsenal, nor can I find out anything about the Mollyneux Brothers who marketed it.

Of course in time I will, and the answers often come from people who post into the bog so I travel in hope.

I guess it might be during the Great War, which would be an obvious time for postcard manufacturers to sell pictures of munitions workers.

There are others in the collection which can be dated to the war and while they are by a different company I think I will stick with the Great War.

Now it is just a flight of fancy which is something I don’t ordinarily indulge in but I would like to think that at least one of the girls staring back at us lived in the newly built Well Hall Estate, which a little over 50 years later was where I would call home.

But yes perhaps a bit too much like romantic tosh, especially as there will be some out there who is about to tell me that the particular type of tube being made predated the Great War. Well we shall see.

Picture; T Tube Factory, Woolwich Arsenal, from the collection of Mark Flynn, post card dealer, http://www.markfynn.com/london-postcards.htm