The War Munitions Supply Company of Western Australia and the Popular Movement to Manufacture Artillery Ammunition in the British Empire in the First World War

Abstract

Among the nations that comprised the British Empire, the First World War has generally either been forgotten, as in India, as irrelevant to the achievement of political independence, or remembered, as in Canada, as the catalyst for developing a separate national identity. This article argues that both these historical interpretations ignore the extent to which the First World War was a shared British Empire experience. The article examines the establishment of the War Munitions Supply Company of Western Australia as an example of the popular movement to make artillery ammunition that swept many parts of the British Empire in 1915. The munitions movement provided an outlet for the patriotic surge that occurred in April–May 1915 in reaction to the German use of poison gas and the sinking of the Lusitania. It was also an attempt to overcome wartime economic disruption by creating a new local industry. The practicalities of cost and shipping meant that by 1917 artillery ammunition production was continued only in Britain, Ireland, and Canada, but in 1915 the Western Australian company was part of an Empire-wide movement to make munitions and support the war.

Notes

Cornell (assistant secretary Perth trades hall) to Ernest Tomlinson (secretary War Munitions Supply Company of WA), 19 July 1917, JS Battye Library of West Australian History (JSBL), MN300, ACC1688A, 112. The author wishes to thank the WA Branch of the Australian Labor Party for granting permission to consult its records.

Great War and Western Australian historians have given little attention to the Munitions Supply Company. It receives one sentence in both Ernest Scott's home front volume of the Australian First World War official history and Frank Crowley's 1961 history of Western Australia, and is not mentioned in either Bobbie Oliver's study of wartime dissent in Western Australia or in Geoffrey Bolton's recent state history. Scott, Australia During the War, 245; Crowley, Australia's Western Third, 182–83; Oliver, War and Peace in Western Australia; Bolton, Land of Vision and Mirage.

Holland, ‘British Empire’, 115.

Connor, ‘Empire's War Recalled’, 1131–35. The concept of the ‘British World’ has been developed in part to counter these narrowly nationalistic historical interpretations. See Bridge and Fedorowich, ‘Mapping the British World’; Dubow, ‘How British Was the British World?’.

West Australian, 10 May 1915.

Gregory, Last Great War, 11. A similar reaction in New Zealand is suggested by Hucker, ‘Great Wave of Enthusiasm’, 71.

Gregory, Last Great War, 39, 46. Similar points been made by Bourne, Britain and the Great War, 210; Wilson, Myriad Faces of War, 182.

For pioneer feminist Bessie Rischbieth organising the shipping of clothing to the UK for Belgian refugees, Baptist Minister F. E. Harry's sermon regarding poison gas and Dr Trethowan's reference to ‘treacherous’ German behaviour in a speech at the Perth Dinghy Club ‘smoke social’, see West Australian, 21 and 27 April, 10 May 1915.

For anti-German riots in South Africa following the Lusitania attack, see Garson ‘South Africa and World War I’, 70; for Zeppelin raids ‘influenc[ing] public thought to a large extent’ among Rhodesian White settlers, see Rhodesia Munitions and Resources Committee, Interim Report, 2.

West Australian, 23 April 1915.

Bourne, Britain and the Great War, 107–14, 185–90; Wilson, Myriad Faces of War, 215–38.

West Australian, 13 and 18 May 1915. This followed a House of Commons statement that the UK Government had contacted the Dominion Governments about recruiting skilled munitions workers; PD, Vol. 71, 27 April, 550–51.

PD, Vol. 71, 18 May 1915, 2158; West Australian, 20 May 1915. Harcourt had already privately refused a similar Australian offer. Lord Harcourt (Colonial Secretary) to Sir Ronald Munro Ferguson (Australian Governor-General), 15 May 1915, National Archives of Australia (NAA), A11803, 1914/89/79.

West Australian, 8 and 14 June 1915; Daily News, 10 June 1915.

Daily News, 10 June 1915.

West Australian, 23 and 30 June, 22 December 1915; Daily News, 23 and 30 June 1915.

West Australian, 1, 2 and 3 July 1915; Hugh Plaistowe (Munitions Supply Company of WA) to David Lloyd George (UK Munitions Minister), 5 October 1915, NAA, A11803, 1914/89/79.

Fitzgerald, ‘The Workshops of War’, 350.

Haycock, ‘Done in our Own Country’, 50–51, 56–57, 62; Haycock, ‘Early Canadian Weapons Acquisition’, 52, 54; Haycock, Sam Hughes, 119–23, 235–36, 241–52; Bliss, ‘War Business as Usual’, 45–8.

Roy, ‘Equipping Leviathan’; Times of India, 1 July 1915; T. L. Matthews, ‘The Manufacture of Munitions of War in India’, 5 September 1917, 14–6, British Library (BL), IOR/L/MIL/7/18978; Ministry of Munitions, History, Vol. II, Pt V, 5–7.

Calcutta Hindoo Patriot, 28 June, 5 July 1915; Times of India, 18 November 1915; Government of India, India's Contribution, 128–29.

‘Manufacture of Munitions of War in India’, 18, BL, IOR/L/MIL/7/18978; Ministry of Munitions, History, Vol. II, Pt V, 10.

‘Minutes of Proceedings of the Indian & Colonial Conference. Held at Armament Buildings, on Thursday, August 12th, 1915’, 1–6, The National Archives (TNA), MUN5, 176/1144/1.

McGibbon, Oxford Companion, 239; H. B. Barrett (secretary Auckland Harbour Board) to James Allen (NZ Defence Minister), 23 June 1915; Allen to Senator George Pearce (Australian Defence Minister), 9 September 1915, Archives New Zealand (ANZ), AD1, 6/114.

West Australian, 6 August 1915; Rhodesia Munitions and Resources Committee, Interim Report, 3. For the varied South African attitudes to the Great War, see Nasson, Springboks on the Somme, 10–11.

‘Minutes of Proceedings of the Indian & Colonial Conference’, 5, TNA, MUN5, 176/1144/1.

Pennell, ‘Going to War’, 47.

Waterford Evening News, 4, 7, 12, 18 and 26 Aug., 8 Sept. 1915; Dooley, Irishmen or English Soldiers?, 122.

[E. A. Mann], ‘Report of the Delegation Sent by the W.A. Munitions Committee to Melbourne’ (‘Delegation Report’), [July 1915], JSBL, ACC5893, A/7.

John Jensen, ‘Defence Production in Australia’, Chapter, 7, 223–25, 228, 236–37, 247–48, NAA, MP598/30, 7. There was also a privately-owned rifle ammunition factory established in 1890. Dennis, Oxford Companion, 276.

Commonwealth Parliamentary Debates (CPD), Vol. 77, 17 June 1915, 4066–70.

Munro Ferguson to Andrew Bonar Law (Colonial Secretary), 11 June 1915; Bonar Law to Munro Ferguson, 9 July 1915, NAA, A11803, 1914/89/79.

CPD, Vol. 77, 17 June 1915, 4068.

Argus, 24 June 1915.

Argus, 21 June 1915.

‘Delegation Report’, JSBL, ACC5893, A/7; Argus, 15 June, 14 July 1915.

Argus, 14 and 15 July 1915.

Bonar Law to Munro Ferguson, 9 July 1915, NAA, A11803, 1914/89/79.

Argus, 15 July 1915.

‘Delegation Report’, JSBL, ACC589, A/7.

In fact, the Australian Government received the specifications from BHP, whose London office had gained them from the Ministry of Munitions, before it received a copy from the Ministry itself. Bonar Law to Munro Ferguson, 28 June 1915; H. Llewellyn Smith (Under-Secretary Ministry of Munitions) to John Anderson (Under-Secretary Colonial Office) 9 July 1915, NAA, A11803, 1914/89/79; Argus, 21 July 1915.

Argus, 15 July 1915.

Argus, 16 July 1915.

‘Interstate Conference of Munitions Committees’, 30 Aug. 1915, 4, NAA, A2023, B11/23/64.

‘Delegation Report’, JSBL, ACC589, A/7; Argus, 16 July 1915.

‘Delegation Report’, JSBL, ACC589, A/7; West Australian, 29 July 1915.

For more on Western Australia in this period, see Crowley, Australia's Western Third; Bolton, Land of Vision and Mirage.

West Australian, 12, 23 and 25 June 1915.

Daily News, 17 June 1915; West Australian, 23 June 1915.

West Australian, 16, 20, 26 and 30 Aug. 1915; ‘Interstate Conference of Munitions Committees’, 19, NAA, A2023, B11/23/64.

For female British munitions workers, see Woollacott, On her their Lives Depend.

West Australian, 4 and 5 Sept. 1915.

Oliver, War and Peace in Western Australia, 31. Western Australia was the only Australian state to overwhelmingly support the introduction of conscription in both the 1916 and 1917 plebiscites. Scott, Australia During the War, 352, 427.

Merritt, ‘Pearce: Labour Leader’, 39–47; Oliver, War and Peace in Western Australia, 52–3.

West Australian, 2 and 23 July, 5 Aug. 1915; Westralian Worker, 6 and 13 Aug. 1915. The Australian Labor Federation was the name given to the local Western Australian trade union organisation.

West Australian, 22 June 1915.

‘Delegation Report’, JSBL, ACC589, A/7.

Kalgoorlie Miner, 17 Aug. 1915.

West Australian, 19 April, 25 Aug., 2 Sept. 1915; Haig-Muir, ‘Economy at War’, 97.

Kalgoorlie Miner, 16 Aug. 1915.

Evening News, 30 Sept. 1915.

Osuntokun, Nigeria in the First World War, 25–26.

Quoted in Times of India, 5 July 1915.

Bliss, ‘War Business as Usual’, 46.

Globe, 8 May 1915. A similar argument was made by Pearce regarding the Australian trade deficit with the UK. Argus, 15 July 1915.

West Australian, 23 and 25 Aug., 6 Oct. 1915; Plaistowe to Lloyd George, 5 Oct. 1915, NAA, A11803, 1914/89/79.

Daily News, 18 and 22 Oct., 22 and 25 Nov. 1915.

West Australian, 24 Aug., 25 Nov. 1915.

Commandant 5th Military District, to Thomas Trumble (secretary Defence Department), 26 Nov. 1915, NAA, A2023, B11/18/690. The committee also publicly attacked Lovekin. West Australian, 24 Nov. 1915.

Gordon Castle (Crown Solicitor), Opinion No. 571, 22 Nov. 1915; Opinion No. 29, 18 Jan. 1916, NAA, A2023, B11/18/690.

West Australian, 4, 14 and 21 Sept. 1915; ‘State Munitions Committee of Western Australia. Industrial Agreement’ [Sept. 1915], JSBL, ACC589, A/1.

West Australian, 30 Aug. 1915.

West Australian, 10 Sept. 1915; Plaistowe to Lloyd George, 5 Oct. 1915, NAA, A11803, 1914/89/79.

West Australian, 4 Sept. 1915, 20 Jan. 1916.

West Australian, 24 Aug. 1915; Kalgoorlie Miner, 23 Dec. 1915.

West Australian, 2 Sept. 1915.

Daily News, 22 June 1915. See also West Australian, 14 Aug. 1915; Kalgoorlie Miner, 17 Aug. 1915.

‘Joint Meeting of the Labour and Engineering Sub-Committees. Held on 19 Aug. 1915 at the University’ (‘Joint Meeting’), JSBL, ACC589, A/4.

West Australian, 23 July, 9 Aug. 1915.

West Australian, 27 Feb. 1917.

West Australian, 30 Aug. 1915; Scott, Australia During the War, 245.

Quoted in West Australian, 5 Oct. 1915.

Victorian Munitions Committee meeting, 23 Nov. 1915, National Library of Australia, MS1924, 16/51; A. J. C. Bult (secretary Victorian Munitions Committee) to Arthur Myers (NZ Munitions & Supplies Minister), 7 Dec. 1915; Major General Alfred Robin (GOC NZ Military Forces) to Myers, 26 Jan. 1916, ANZ, AD1, 6/114.

Ministry of Munitions, History, Vol. II, Pt V, 10.

Lord Hardinge (Indian Viceroy) to Munro Ferguson, 8 July 1915, NAA, A11803, 1914/89/79; ‘Report upon visit to India by Arsenal Committee’ [Dec. 1915], NAA, MP891/7, Vol. 2; Times of India, 1 Dec. 1915.

Rhodesia Munitions and Resources Committee, Interim Report, 1–3.

West Australian, 9 Oct., 22 Dec. 1915. A single bar of steel for production trials had arrived on 20 Aug. 1915. ‘Joint Meeting’, JSBL, ACC589, A/4.

West Australian, 22 Dec. 1915, 31 Jan., 30 June, 1 July 1916; Ministry of Munitions, History, Vol. II, Pt VI, 10.

H. W. Just (Colonial Office) to Llewellyn Smith, 7 Feb. 1916, TNA, MUN5, 176/1144/2; Bonar Law to Munro Ferguson, 8 March, 31 March 1916, NAA, A11803, 1914/89/79; Scott, Australia During the War, 245–46.

Plaistowe to Lloyd George, 5 Oct. 1915, Bonar Law to Munro Ferguson, 16 Dec. 1915, Prime Minister's Department memo, 26 Jan. 1916, NAA, A11803, 1914/89/79.

Cornell to Pearce, 16 May 1916, Pearce to Cornell, 24 May 1916, JSBL, MN300, ACC1688A, 112; West Australian, 1 and 3 July 1916, 27 Feb. 1917; Scott, Australia During the War, 246; ‘Expenditure in Connection with Shell Manufacture’, 13 March 1919, NAA, MP392/10, 473/568/117.

Puirséil, ‘War, Work and Labour’, 184–85; Dooley, Irishmen or English soldiers?, 123.

This was the high point of Canadian production. From the middle of 1917 orders declined due to the British dollar shortage. Bliss, ‘War Business as Usual’, 49, 53.

Younghusband, ‘India’, 195.

Das, ‘India and the First World War’, 63.

These workers included Chinese fitters and turners recruited in Hong Kong by the Albion Shell Factory. Ministry of Munitions, History, Vol. II, Pt V, 11.

Bonar Law to Munro Ferguson, 25 Nov. 1915, 9 Sept. 1916, NAA, A11803, 1914/89/79.

Rhodesia Munitions and Resources Committee, Interim Report, 3, 20; Drew, War Effort of New Zealand, xxi; McGibbon, Oxford Companion, 239–40.

Scott, Australian During the War, 549.

Ministry of Munitions, History, Vol. II, Pt V, 11–2; Younghusband, ‘India’, 196; Government of India, India's Contribution, 104–5.

Circular letter to governors, 26 Feb. 1918, TNA, MUN4, 2056; ‘Nyasaland Protectorate Local Purchases’, 31 Jan. [1919], TNA, MUN4, 6350.

Osuntokun, Nigeria in the First World War, 22–32.

Salter, Allied Shipping Control, 12–13, 39, 49–50, 92; Scott, Australia During the War, 531–35.

Scott, Australia During the War, 614–17. For a new analysis of Hughes and the shipping issue, see Bridge, William Hughes.

Before this scheme began, Vickers had brought about a thousand Australians, including Western Australians, to the UK. Munro Ferguson to Bonar Law, 1 August 1916, NAA, A11803, 1914/89/79; ‘Memorandum for Committee Invited to Select Munitions Workers for Duty in England’, 5 Aug. 1916, NAA, A2023, E168/2/23; MacLeod, ‘Industrial Invasion’, 39; West Australian, 19 May 1916.

See entries for Adam Baird, Ernest Tomlinson, Hubert Whitfeld, and Norman Wilsmore in the Australian Dictionary of Biography. Available at www.adbonline.anu.edu.au

MacLeod, ‘Industrial Invasion’, 43, 45.

Bridge and Fedorowich, ‘Mapping the British World’, 6.

For the persistence of the ‘Anzac Legend’ in Australian military history, see Grey, ‘Cuckoo in the Nest?’, 456–59.

One example could be the conscription debates in Ireland, Canada, and New Zealand. For national accounts of these debates, see Gregory, ‘Recruit Germans’; Granatstein and Hitsman, Broken Promises; Baker, King and Country.