Original WW1 era portrait of 2 young emancipated women proudly wearing boiler suits, showing comradeship of women working in the munitions industry. The girls are thought to be munitions workers as they are wearing boiler suits - it was a dangerous job where skirts might catch in machinery or knock over dangerous chemicals. The town of Wakefield sent girls to work at the National Filling Factory No. 1, at nearby Barnbow. Women working at this large munitions factory were known as 'Barnbow lasses'. The portrait was taken at Barnes' Black & White Studios, Kirkgate, Wakefield, circa 1916.
The introduction of men's conscription in 1916 made the need for female workers urgent . By 1917 munitions factories, primarily employed women workers - this helps to date this photo between 1916-1918. In some factories more than 90% of the workforce were women. Barnbow lasses were recruited from towns nearby such as Wakefield and Leeds. By October 1916 there were 16,000 people working at Barnbow. Barnbow was Britain's top shell factory between 1914 and 1918. Further reading about the Barnbow Lasses at ,
Size: 4706px × 6978px
Location: Wakefield, West Yorkshire, England, UK
Photo credit: © ThislifeThen / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
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