RootsChat.Com
Ireland (Historical Counties) => Ireland => Wicklow => Topic started by: finglaspete on Saturday 03 December 11 23:37 GMT (UK)
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I have been informed by my elderly father and aunt that this is a picture of a group of people who worked in an armaments factory during the first world war in wicklow. Now don't ask me, if that is the town or county, i don't know, that is why i am asking you!
my two aunts, mary and sarah curran are supposedly in the picture, though i can only identify sarah. Please can anybody confirm that this is a picture of said armaments factory, and can i have lots more details, as it would be so appreciated! if possible also, i would like to confirm that both mary and sarah curran worked there, and what their addresses were. I personally think that alot of the people in this picture look very irish, so i would love to hear what anyone else has to say.
even a bit of a historical background, or any info would be brill!
thanks in advance, pete
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There was munitions factory just north of Arklow at Ferrybank. According to an article on Geograph.ie it operated from 1894 to about 1918
see : http://www.geograph.ie/photo/644753
Shane
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Thanks for that shane, very interesting link, and quite interesting to think that it could be that one, it had to be, my aunts worked there around 1914.
i'm sorry to anyone who has looked at this since i put it up, but it didn't have attached picture with it before, but now it doe's!!
once again, i'd love to hear thoughts on it, if anyone has any ideas, also, there are alot of individuals in that picture, so it is just worth a look if your from that area, you never know who you might see?
pete
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Thanks for that shane, very interesting link, and quite interesting to think that it could be that one, it had to be, my aunts worked there around 1914.
i'm sorry to anyone who has looked at this since i put it up, but it didn't have attached picture with it before, but now it doe's!!
once again, i'd love to hear thoughts on it, if anyone has any ideas, also, there are alot of individuals in that picture, so it is just worth a look if your from that area, you never know who you might see?
pete
This is a photo that hung in the Arklow Library when I was last in it several years ago, the munition factory you seek is Kynoch's Factory
Wikepedia gives you information
And if you were to search the Archives of the Rootsweb Wicklow list you will find much written on said factory
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kynoch
The factory after a massive explosion and time, was relocated to South Africa
I do have a fair bit of history on the said place but I dont know how much you wish to know
Cheers
Cara
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Cara
Thank you very much for the information, it is really great to confirm that this is not only an irish picture, but even the location and name of the company too! My apologies also for not getting back so quick, but my genealogical research does get rather intermitent at times.
If you do hold a bit of history on the place, you wouldn't have an employee list near you? I would love to know what the address of my aunts sarah and mary curran was when they were based there, because they were from Clontarf in Dublin, and that would definitely not have been a daily commute back in those days. If you haven't no worries.
Once again, many thanks for your reply and information, it was a lovely surprise.
all the best
pete
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Cara
Thank you very much for the information, it is really great to confirm that this is not only an irish picture, but even the location and name of the company too! My apologies also for not getting back so quick, but my genealogical research does get rather intermitent at times.
If you do hold a bit of history on the place, you wouldn't have an employee list near you? I would love to know what the address of my aunts sarah and mary curran was when they were based there, because they were from Clontarf in Dublin, and that would definitely not have been a daily commute back in those days. If you haven't no worries.
Once again, many thanks for your reply and information, it was a lovely surprise.
all the best
pete
Being slow is not hard cross to bear I can live with all that.
George Kynoch and the ammunition
empire he created. Is written about in a book called Kynoch
Case bound, 130 pages, 9' x 12' with four color dust
jacket containing: A comprehensive review of Kynoch shotgun cartridges
covering over 50 brand names and case types, and over 250 Kynoch shotgun
cartridge headstamps. Additional information on Kynoch metallic ammunition
including the identity of the mysterious .434 Seelun.
was the founder of the Kynochs amunition factory Arklow
1895 AD Kynochs
Another industry which depended on ease of import and export was established
in 1895. That was Kynoch
Munitions Works which was to employ hundreds of local people. It remained
open until 1917. During twenty-three years of operation, Kynochs supplied
commercial explosives to mining companies in Europe, but also to South
Africa and Australia. In 1909, some of the Arklow workforce took the offer
of emigrating to South Africa to help set up a factory in Umbogintwini,
which was to take over the South African and Australian markets. The
political situation in Ireland from 1910 onwards also prompted a wind-down
in the Arklow operations. The rise of Sinn Fein and nationalist politics
made having one of the world's biggest munition factories a tricky
situation. The factory might well have closed in 1912 or 1913, but European
war was looming and for the duration of hostilities between 1914 and .1918,
Kynoch- Arklow employed four thousand workers, all of whom received a card
stating that their work was regarded as war work and they could not be
conscripted -although, as it happened, conscription was not introduced
anywhere in Ireland during WW1.
There were accidents in the factory, but on the whole it had an excellent
safety record. The main exception was on the morning of September 21st l9l7
when a massive explosion rocked the town. It occurred at 3a.m.when there was
only a small night shift. Had it happened during the day, many hundreds
would have been killed. As it was, twenty-seven died. A monument marks their
common grave in the cemetery.
Kynochs story
Early in the morning of 21-9-1917 Kynoch's munitions factory at Arklow
disintegrated in a terrific explosion. the four magazines situated at 50
yard intervals disappeared in a bang that was heard 20 miles away. twenty
eight workers were killed and many injured. Tight wartime security lowered a
veil of secrecy over the event. Witnesses at Kynoch's inquest however
described a whirring sound just before the main explosions. the manager
believed that the plant had been shelled from the sea. It was surmised that
a submarine had shelled the plant. During the salvage of the Anna Toop, a
421 ton coaster on the Arklow Bank in 1958-59, a diver working from the
trawler Naomh Eamonn described seeing a sunken submarine near the wreck. It
was surmised that the German submarine foundered during a crash dive
following the attack and came to rest on the Arklow Bank near the Arklow
number 4 buoy. Local divers have failed to find the submarine and no
official records describe a loss at this location.
It is not clear whether the observed submarine was a tale or perhaps some
other wreckage.
Located in Arklow
Duri ng the First World War a major munitions factory, Kynoch's was located
behind the North Quay. It was almost totally destroyed in a disastrous
explosion, with loss of life, and closed in 1920, with many workers
emigrating to South Africa to work for a sister plant of Kynoch's. In recent
times Arklow developed industrially around a fertiliser plant, incredulously
located in the beautiful nearby Vale of Avoca.
Beresford Terrace, this street consists of twelve, elegant red bricked
houses which were built in 1896, at that time they were built to accommodate
managers from Kynoch's munitions factory, which at one time employed 4,000
people in the town.
Cara_Links
And after all that I have to say I dont have an employees listing but wont your girls show in the 1901/1911 census ???
Cara
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Hi again Cara
Wonderful incite, into what happenned, in the factory over the years, and how sad it was to see so many deaths happen there over the years, it was certainly different to work in that bygone era.
The only reason I ask of the details of my Aunts, is that they are present in the picture, but we were always lead to believe they were in England during WW1, of course they are both present in the 1901/1911 censii, but they were only schoolgirls, I just thought that it would have been a rather long commute from where they lived in Clontarf, to get all the way down to Arklow, by public transport this would have been at least three hours each way back in those days, maybe more. I know Kynochs laid on buses for employees in the war, but clontarf is still a stretch. I just thought that they may have moved somewhere more locally, especially getting a sniff of a well payed job even if it is away from home.
Anyway, for the fact that you confirmed this is an irish picture, and the name and location of the factory, is far more than adequate. and i am deeply in gratitude to you.
All the best, pete
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My grandfather Thomas Kavanagh worked in Kynocks factory during WW i. He was a tailor and made the overalls for the workers. One of the noticable things about the uniforms were that they had no pockets in them. The reason was that in those days everyone smoked so if you had no pockets you couldnt keep your matches on you.
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Hi all,
I'm researching this factory for a BBC project and would love to speak to anybody who had relations working there.
Thanks!
Helen
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I'm searching for some more information about my family in Arklow. Bridget and William Kearney lived in Kinsella Lane in Arklow. Bridget worked in the Kynoch's munitions factory during WW1. I know that she worked there in 1917 and she talked about the terrible accident that happened during the night. Is there any way of finding out more? Helen, how did you get on with the BBC project? Any help much appreciated. Jayne