Friday 24 July 2015

Luton Munitions Campaign



Men working at Balmforth factory, c.1910-20 [Z1411/1/3G]

Saturday 24th July 1915: A munitions campaign has been held this week in Luton, during which speeches were given at various engineering works in the town to encourage the men in their labours. Similar meetings are being held all over the country by the Parliamentary Munitions Committee. Three of the companies visited were:
  • Davis Gas Stove Co. Ltd., where an address was given by Mr. Tom Wing, M.P. during the men’s dinner hour. He stressed that any job that was keeping the country going was a war job. The men were told, “If ever you tried to do your best do it now. If you have any care for your wives and families and the country you live in, show it now”.
  • Balmforth and Co. Ltd. Captain Maylor and Mr. Goldstone spoke to the employees of this company where fifty two men are recorded on the company’s roll of honour as having joined the Forces. Two of them have been killed on the battlefield, one while fighting with Captain Maylor’s regiment. Mr Goldstone told the men to ask themselves “Am I doing this bit of work in the same spirit as my pal on that roll of honour is doing it in the trenches? If you are, we are going to win”.
  • Thermo-Electric Ore Reduction Corporation Ltd. The men were thanked by Mr. Wing for the way they had worked during the war and asked them to “go back to your toil with this one feeling, that every hour in which you do your duty is one hour added to make the war shorter and victory more certain”. He hoped nothing would keep them from their business as the “field of war and the factory were one”.
Source: Luton News, 22nd July 1915

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