Tipton ammunition factory Explosion
Posted: Tue Aug 16, 2011 12:30 pmFound this on ( facebook page Like If You Have Ever Lived in Tipton) theres also Photo of the grave at Tipton cemetry.I'm still try to copy !!
The Dudley Port factory explosion of 1922 claimed the lives of the 19 teenage girls.
The explosion ripped through the ammunition factory on March 6, killing all but five of the workers.
Employees at the Groveland Road factory were responsible for breaking up live cartridges left over from the First World War for their scrap value.
The workshop (Dudley Port Phosphor Bronze Co.) was in Groveland Road, Dudley Port. They acquired a contract to break up 0.22 cartridges to recover principally the lead and copper. The explosive content was gathered in open boxes and tipped into the canal at the end of the day! In the workshop there was a coal-fired brazier, there was loose gunpowder, there were no obvious precautions of any sort, unsurprisingly there was an explosion.
Over £10,000 was colleced as the Dudley Port Expolsion Fund, about 50/50 from public subscription and compensation from Knowles. The cost of the memorial stone as pictured was £79 13s 6d and £28 was paid to Tipton council for maintenance in perpetuity.
The Dudley Port factory explosion of 1922 claimed the lives of the 19 teenage girls.
The explosion ripped through the ammunition factory on March 6, killing all but five of the workers.
Employees at the Groveland Road factory were responsible for breaking up live cartridges left over from the First World War for their scrap value.
The workshop (Dudley Port Phosphor Bronze Co.) was in Groveland Road, Dudley Port. They acquired a contract to break up 0.22 cartridges to recover principally the lead and copper. The explosive content was gathered in open boxes and tipped into the canal at the end of the day! In the workshop there was a coal-fired brazier, there was loose gunpowder, there were no obvious precautions of any sort, unsurprisingly there was an explosion.
Over £10,000 was colleced as the Dudley Port Expolsion Fund, about 50/50 from public subscription and compensation from Knowles. The cost of the memorial stone as pictured was £79 13s 6d and £28 was paid to Tipton council for maintenance in perpetuity.
