https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2570-4704
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Abstract
This article analyses the public governance of the private British munitions industry from 1938 to 1945. It uses a case study of Wales to make two arguments. One is that public regional governance was contested and slow to emerge, although ultimately successful. Governance was initially centralised and uncoordinated as three supply ministries competed to source munitions. Floorspace controls were introduced in 1941 but ministries rebuffed other attempts to co-ordinate regional procurement. However, capacity problems throughout Britain incentivised co-operation from 1942, when a new Ministry of Production created effective regional structures. The other argument is that business activity in Wales intensified as structures emerged. Mobilisation focussed initially on concentrations of secondary manufacturing, but Wales was dominated by primary industries and few businesses were producing munitions by mid-1940. Nevertheless, air raids and capacity shortages elsewhere prompted an influx controlled increasingly by regional structures that governed a munitions industry dominated by private businesses.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.
Graph 1. Floorspace licenced for munitions production, Wales, 1941 – 1944 (‘000 sq. ft.).
Source: TNA, BT 131/28, The Control of Factory and Storage Space, annexes.
Graph 2. Floorspace licenced for munitions production, 1941 – 1944, Wales (percentage of UK allocations).
Source: TNA, BT 131/28, The Control of Factory and Storage Space, annexes.
Notes
1 Gowing (Citation1972, p. 150).
2 Harrison (Citation1990, pp. 665–666).
3 The National Archives (Hereafter TNA), 102/272, Ministry of Supply, Note on Responsibility for Production and Labour Supply, 4 December 1942.
4 Broadberry and Howlett (Citation1998), Howlett (Citation1993), Peden (Citation2007, pp. 164–228).
5 Forbes (Citation2014, p. 67).
6 Gordon (Citation1988, p. 264); Miller (Citation2018, p. 222).
7 Shay (Citation1977, p. 289); Rollings (Citation2001, pp. 538–539).
8 Gibbs (Citation1976, p. 767).
9 Edgerton (1984) and Howlett (Citation1994).
10 Parsons (Citation1988, pp. 47–68); Wren (Citation1996, pp. 29–31).
11 Gooberman (Citation2017, pp. 51–57).
12 Crowcroft (Citation2015, p. 540); Edgerton (2011, p. 200).
13 Lyttleton (Citation1964, p. 286).
14 Crowcroft (2015, p. 540).
15 TNA BT 138/28, Note of Talk with Miss Elroy and Sir C. Weir, Board of Trade, Professor Hancock, 23 December 1941.
16 Calder (Citation1969).
17 Edgerton (Citation1984, Citation2006, Citation2011, pp. 59–88).
18 Todman (Citation2017, p. 593, 617).
19 Coombs (Citation2015); Jeffreys (Citation1991, pp. 61–84). A similar approach is taken by: Todman (Citation2020, pp. 261–268).
20 Welsh structures are discussed briefly in: Rowlands (Citation2000, pp. 155–157).
21 Peden (Citation1979), Appendix III.
22 Williams (Citation1985, p. 144).
23 Third Report of the Commissioner for Special Areas (1937, p. 8).
24 TNA LAB 25/6, Committee on Removal of Ordnance Factories, 7 November 1935, 3.
25 TNA CAB 102/627, Construction of Filling Factories, 6.
26 Ashworth (Citation1953, p. 150).
27 TNA CAB 23/87, Cabinet Papers, 25 January 1937.
28 Phillips (Citation2014, pp. 46–48).
29 The War Effort at the Curran Works (1945, p. 1).
30 Williams (Citation1985, p. 135); ONS, Long-term Trends in UK Employment: 1861 to 2018. Figures 2a, 6.
31 TNA BT 138/28, Note for Professor Hancock, December 1941, 3.
32 Shay (1977, p. 274).
33 Scott and Hughes (Citation1955, pp. 16–18, 77).
34 TNA 102/503, The Regional Organisation of the Ministry of Supply, 2.
35 TBA CAB 102/613, Notes on the Development of Regional Organisation, 3; TNA 102/503, The Regional Organisation of the Ministry of Supply, 4.
36 ‘Wales not Neglected, say Ministry.’ Western Mail, 23 January 1940; ‘Wales and the Ministry of Supply.’ 23 January 1940.
37 Rowlands (Citation2000, p. 152).
38 TNA CAB 102/274, Government Owned Factories Operated by Contractors on Agency/ Commercial Terms, 1945.
39 Smith (Citation1980, pp. 32–33).
40 The Economist, ‘British Budgets.’ 22 April 1939.
41 Williams (Citation1985, p. 146); ‘Mobilising Nations’ Resources.’ Western Mail 27 February 1940.
42 TNA BT 138/28, Talk with Miss Elroy and Sir C. Weir, Board of Trade, Professor Hancock, 23 December 1941.
43 TNA CAB 102/100, The Control of Factory and Storage Premises, 23–24.
44 Weir (Citation1953, p. 48).
45 TNA BT 168/135, Reports from Area Boards, November 1940.
46 TNA CAB 102/613, Notes on Regional Organisation, 4, 6.
47 TNA BT 168/32, Matters of Policy Requiring an Early Decision by the Production Executive.
48 TNA CAB 102/613, Notes on Regional Organisation, 8.
49 ‘Realities of Supply.’ The Times, 21 May 1941.
50 TNA BT 168/116, Suggestions by Area Boards for the Greater Utilisation of Industrial Capacity, 29 October 1940.
51 TNA BT 168/41, Letter from Wales Regional Board Chair to Production Executive, 3 December 1941; Letter from Wales Regional Board Secretary to the Production Executive, 2 December 1941.
52 TNA BT 168/32, Summary of Regional Board Matters for the consideration of Mr Bevin, 12 September 1941.
53 Pride (Citation1959, p. 27).
54 House of Commons (Hereafter HoC), Wales and Monmouthshire. A Summary of Government Action 1st August 1945–31st July 1946, Cmd 6938, 5.
55 Thomas (Citation1963, p. 42).
56 TNA BT 168/5, Letter from Wales Regional Board, 20 July 1943, 3; Rowlands. Something Must Be Done, 157.
57 Womens’ Archive of Wales, Voices from the Factory Floor, Margaret Chislett, http://www.factorywomensvoices.wales/uploads/VSE012.2.pdf, 2; Baber and Thomas, ‘The Glamorgan Economy, 1914–1945’. In Glamorgan County History, Volume V, edited by. John and Williams, 564.
58 Clwyd At War, 45.
59 Voices from the Factory Floor, Susan Jones, http://www.factorywomensvoices.wales/uploads/VN016.2.pdf, 6.
60 TNA LAB 12/82, Ministry of Labour and National Service Monthly Reports, 17 November 1941, 8; TNA CAB 102/272, Employment at ROFs 1939–1943.
61 TNA AVIVA 22/3337, History of Factory Activities: Rhydymwyn, 10.
62 Clubb (Citation2007, pp. 84–85).
63 TNA BT 188/127, Regional Functions of the Ministry of Aircraft Production.
64 TNA CAB 102/274, Government Owned Factories Operated by Contractors on Agency/ Commercial Terms, 1945.
65 Chambers (Citation1995, p. 55).
66 Hughes (Citation2019, pp. 10–11).
67 Percival (Citation1978), appendix.
68 Carradice. Wales at War, 78.
69 Hornby. Factories and Plant, 59–60.
70 TNA BT 168/126, Admiralty Note on Functions of the Regional Board.
71 Williams (Citation1985, p. 146).
72 “Whys” of Welsh War Workers Answered’, Western Mail, 29 January 1942.
73 Jeffreys (1991, pp. 91–92).
74 Lyttleton (Citation1964, p. 284).
75 HoC, Report of the Commission on Regional Boards, Cmd 6360, May 1942. 7.
76 TNA BT 168/27, Letter from Ministry of Production to Secretary of the Regional Boards Committee, 20 March 1942; Report of the Commission on Regional Boards, 8.
77 TNA CAB 102/613, Regional Boards, Minister’s Duties and Programme, 103.
78 The Times, ‘Strengthening the Controls’, 15 October 1942.
79 TNA CAB 102/613, Regional Boards, Minister’s Duties and Programme, 105.
80 Ashworth (1953, p. 76).
81 TNA BT 168/29, Regional Board Minutes, 3 July 1942.
82 Western Mail, ‘District Offices for Welsh Production’, 3 September 1942.
83 TNA BT 168/29, Regional Board Minutes, 28 September 1942; 2 November 1942.
84 TNA BT 168/12, Wales Regional Board, Suggestions for Regional Organisation, 26 March 1943.
85 TNA BT 168/13, Regional Controllers Conference, 8–9 Nov 1944.
86 TNA CAB 102/100, Regional Controllers of Factory and Storage, and Regional Board Organisation, 41.
87 TNA BT 168/29, Regional Board Minutes, 23 November 1942.
88 TNA CAB 102/272, Employment at R.O.F.s 1939–1943.
89 Statistical Digest of the War, 152.
90 TNA BT 131/28, The Control of Factory and Storage Space, annexes.
91 TNA BT 168/29, Regional Board Minutes, 9 April 1945.
92 TNA BT 168/29, Regional Board Minutes, 2 November 1942.
93 TNA CAB 102/274, Government Owned Factories Operated by Contractors on Agency/ Commercial Terms, 1945.
94 TNA BT 168/29, Regional Board Minutes, 14 December 1942; 21 December 1942.
95 TNA BT 64/3153, Nuffield College Reconstruction Survey, South Wales Reports, 1943.
96 TNA BT 168/41, Ministry of Production, Wales Regional Board, November 1942; Percival. The Government’s Industrial Estates in Wales, Appendix.
97 ‘Bright Prospects for Welsh Industry’, Western Mail 19 September 1944.
98 Thomas, ‘Post-War Expansion.’ In The Welsh Economy, Studies in Expansion, 30; Williams. A Forgotten Army, Female Munitions Workers of South Wales 1939–1945, 14.
99 The War Effort at the Curran Works (1945, p. 18); TNA CAB 102/272, Employment at R.O.F.s 1939–1943.
100 Thomas, ‘Post-War Expansion.’ In The Welsh Economy, Studies in Expansion, 31.
101 TNA CAB 102/272, December 1943 and May 1944 data; TNA BT 131/28, Control of Factory and Storage Space, annexes.
102 The War Effort at the Curran Works (Citation1945, p. 19).
103 TNA BT 170/215, Regional Board Minutes, 5 March 1945, 4–6.
104 TNA BT 168/13, Conference of Chairman of Regional Boards, 22 August 1945; Gooberman and Curtis. ‘The Age of Factories: The Rise and Fall of Manufacturing in South Wales, 1945–1985.’ in New Perspectives on Welsh Industrial History, edited by Miskell (Cardiff, 2020).
105 Edgerton (Citation2011); Todman, Britain’s War; Peden (Citation2007).
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Leon Gooberman
Dr Leon Gooberman is Lecturer in Employment Relations at Cardiff Business School, Cardiff University. His research interests include regional deindustrialisation and employer collective action, and he has published in journals including Business History, Enterprise and Society, Contemporary British History, and Urban History. His monograph (From Depression to Devolution, Economy and Government in Wales, 1934-2006) was published in 2017 by the University of Wales Press.