Was my grandmother caught up in the Silvertown explosion?
‘They got married the day after one of the worst non-military disasters of the First World War’
QMy grandparents, Robert Francis Stone and Caroline Rosina Hardway, were married in St Luke’s Church, Victoria Docks, on 20 January 1917 – the day after the Silvertown explosion. This photograph includes Caroline, pictured at the far right, at the end of the back row. I believe that the uniform she’s wearing was worn by the women working in the munitions factory.
I have no idea of the date or age of Caroline when this photograph was taken, but think it must have been before her marriage. Robert lived in Otley Road and Caroline in Star Street. Could Caroline have been employed in the munitions factory in Silvertown, or were there others in the area? Are there any records of the people employed in these factories, and where would I find them? Her sisters might also have been employed there.
Val Cooper
AWhen your grandmother got married on 20 January 1917, was any occupation included on her marriage certificate? Even if not, she could still have been working in a factory at the time, but any occupation details could provide further clues.
It is remarkable that they got married the day after the explosion, which was one of the worst nonmilitary disasters of the First World War.
The area was devastated by the events of 19 January, when badly stored trinitrotoluene (TNT) exploded through the former Brunner Mond factory in the East London docklands. Since the early years of the war, the factory had been used to purify TNT. Although purifying was even more dangerous than manufacturing this highly toxic substance, by 1917 Silvertown was purifying nine tonnes of TNT per day. No fewer than 73 lives were lost in the explosion, and the blast was heard as far away as Southampton and Norwich. A devastating firestorm spread beyond the factory into
neighbouring streets, destroying or damaging more than 900 homes – 390 people were injured.
Your photograph provides some useful clues. You are correct that the uniform Caroline is wearing is that worn by munitionettes, but it’s hard to be certain that she worked in Silvertown. Silvertown lay just across the river from the vast Royal Woolwich Arsenal. In collections, such as those of the Imperial War Museum ( iwm.org.uk/ collections), there are photos of female munitions workers at the Arsenal wearing the exact uniform, badge and armlet worn by Caroline.
The women in the photo wear armlets with the letters “M.I.D.”, for Munitions Inspection Department. Pinned to each uniform is the distinctive triangular badge of the munitions worker. Every badge was inscribed with the phrase “On War Service”, and the year that it was issued (from 1916).
First World War factory workers can be hard to research. For details of the factories, see local record offices or The National Archives in Kew (TNA; discovery.nationalarchives.gov.
uk). According to the Royal Arsenal History website ( royal-arsenal-history.
com), there are no surviving Woolwich employment records, but there are some accident and disability records. To investigate whether Caroline or her sisters are mentioned in these, contact Greenwich Heritage Centre ( greenwichheritage. org/visit/greenwichheritage-centre) or the North West Kent Family History Society ( nwkfhs. org.uk).
Try searching contemporary newspapers for coverage of events at the factories ( britishnewspaperarchive. co.uk). The Lloyd George Archive has a good collection of munitionette memorabilia ( lloydgeorgearchive.co. uk). For a full list of resources, see my Society of Genealogists’ guide My
Ancestor Was a Woman at War (2013). To find out more about the area your grandparents came from, see the Silvertown Project site ( bit.ly/ silvertown-project) and Graham
Hill and Howard Bloch’s book The
Silvertown Explosion (The History Press, 2003). Emma Jolly