Kynochs armaments factory, Arklow, County Wicklow, Ireland

A group of employees of Kynochs LTD, Arklow c1914

Some time ago, I was given a picture by my Auntie Kathleen of a picture of a group of people, it looked like a professional group picture taken a long time ago.

I was informed by my aunt that it was a group taken from an armament factory, and that her sisters Mary and Sarah Curran were in the picture, I had little to go on, as Kathleen did not know where this photograph was taken, we assumed that it was in the south of England because there is documentary proof that Mary and Sarah had lived in London during the first world war, they worked as bus conductors, or clippies as they were called then. It always struck me that the group looked very Irish and that is why it always puzzled me.

After a couple of years staring at the picture, I finally presented the picture to my Father, Dermot Curran, who said that he felt that the picture may have been taken in County Wicklow during the beginning of the first world war. At this point I decided to put the picture on a web genealogy forum and beggar the question: Was there an armaments factory in County Wicklow in the First World War? Not too long after I got a couple of responses, particularly one from a lady called Cara, I don’t know her second name. She informed me that this was a picture that had hung on the wall of Arklow library, she said that this was a factory just outside Arklow, I was given a few links and started to look around, it turned out that there was quite the major factory, producing mainly cordite charges for late Victorian and early twentieth century cannon, and also for mining charges. The company had a very rocky history in Ireland, with many industrial accidents taking place there, with a large number of deaths, it was estimated that during the first world war, due to increased demand for cordite on the western front, that there was on average one serious accident per week, many people were injured by acid and burning related accidents, even a few were actually blown up.

During the First World War, the company which employed around 300 pre war, moved its employee numbers up to over 5000 employees. In its heyday the factory also comprised of 200 buildings, During this time there was a massive explosion in the factory killing 27 employees, and injuring dozens more, various theories abound, one saying that it was a German U-boat that bombarded the factory as a military target, but it was officially thought that it was an industrial accident.

I must say that it has really made quite fascinating reading in my research for this picture, and really paints a picture of a bygone era, when health and safety issues that we hold sacred today, were not so sacred back then, and through the whole belief of just holding onto a job, and maybe the naivety of having the knowledge of the perils of the substances being handled.

At this point I would like to thank my Auntie Kathleen, who originally passed on a copy of the picture to me, Cara who gave me the relevant info to post a decent blog from what she told me on rootschat, and also the various websites, which I have researched my information from, please take a look at them, it is quite a fascinating insight into pre independent Irelands contributions to the empires war efforts.

http://www.historyireland.com/volumes/volume14/issue1/features/?id=314

http://www.staffshomeguard.co.uk/KOtherInformationKynochV2A.htm

http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/IRL-WICKLOW/2003-08/1060173279

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kynoch

http://www.geolocation.ws/v/W/4d958af38786563542000bc5/munitions-factory-site-ferrybank-arklow/en