Woman worker operating a screwing machine at Armstrong Whitworth and Co
Image: IWM (Q 20078)
Women in Shipbuilding during the First World War
This project, led by Historic England and funded by Lloyd’s Register Foundation, aimed to uncover the stories of women who worked in the shipbuilding industry in the North East during the First World War.
With many of the North East’s shipyard workers away fighting, local women volunteered to keep the region’s maritime industry afloat. Between 1914 and 1918, they took on highly skilled engineering roles in shipyards including Swan Hunters in Wallsend, Palmers in Hebburn, Armstrong Whitworth in Elswick and Haverton Hill on the Tees. However, when the war ended, despite the skills they had learned and the vital role they had played in meeting the increased demand for ships and repairs, they were pushed out of these roles to make room for the men returning from the conflict.
As part of the project, Historic England commissioned Remembering the Past to record a set of oral history interviews with people with family memories of women working in the shipyards, as well as contemporary accounts of young women aspiring to work in the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) sector.
The Women in Shipbuilding project was a pop- up exhibition touring venues along the Tyne featuring photographs of North East women at work in the shipyards during the First World War. These images, sourced from Imperial War Museums’ collection, were to act as a focal point for people to contribute their own family stories, photographs and memorabilia relating to this neglected area of the region’s history.
The exhibition “popped up” at the following venues on Tyneside:
Wallsend Forum Shopping Centre
Common Room of the North, Central Newcastle
Newcastle High School for Girls
The Bridge Gallery, Tynemouth Station
There was a lot of interest from the visiting public, who were keen to know more and several knew of female ancestors who had worked in the shipyards. Two of these involved relatives working there during the First World War and we are delighted to be able to share their stories below.
The exhibition in Wallsend was also visited by local primary school children with activities in the exhibition space facilitated by North Tyneside Art Studio.
Primary school pupils at the Wallsend Forum po-up exhibition
A selection of Images from the collection
Here is a selection of images from the Imperial War Museum collection showing the incredible variety of work being carried out by women workers. Some of the work was heavy manual work such as carrying large timbers, digging embankments or laying railway tracks. Other work was highly skilled and it was remarkable that the women had to be trained in the space of two or three months, to do work that normally required the operator to serve an apprenticeship of several years.
You can view the full exhibition of photos online at the Lloyds Register Foundation website.
Browse our First World War Women in Shipbuilding memories and reactions to the exhibition below. If you have a female ancestor who worked in the North East shipyards during the First World War, then please get in touch with us via our Contact Us page. We would love to add their story to our collection.
Bella and Mary in working outfits
Barbara
My Great Aunt Bella and Great Great Aunt Mary
The exhibition enlightened me quite a bit about their uniforms and what they must have been doing. The younger lady was my great aunt, Aunty Bella, she was born in 1900, she was my grandma’s second sister.
Shirley’s Grandma Florence in the dark top
Shirley
My Grandma – Shipyard Worker and Footballer
I used to take the Brownies, the Brownie Pack was from Cullercoats Methodist Church, they were the 4th Brownie Pack. We used to get a bus from the Cullercoats Church and that had the Sunday School and all the uniform organisations in and we would arrive at the North Shields Square, we had places to go to and we used to stand there.
Newcastle High School for Girls
Newcastle High School for Girls (NHSG) was one of the host sites for this exhibition and saw it’s value in encouraging girls to consider careers in Science, Technology or Engineering. They were keen to be involved in the project because they have a special connection with the women working in shipyards and munitions manufacturing during the First World War. A former pupil, Rachel Parsons, was the daughter of Charles Parsons, inventor of the Steam Turbine and founder of Parsons Engineering works. Rachel and her mother Katherine became qualified engineers in their own right and played key roles in recruiting and training women to take the place of the men who had gone to war. You can read more of their story in this article published by the Common Room of the North – Rachel and Katharine Parsons.
While the exhibition was at the school, we were able to go in and talk to three of their sixth form pupils about what they thought of the exhibition, why they had chosen to go on and study STEM subjects and what their career aspirations are. It was great to hear of the encouragement they had all received, contrasting starkly with the way the women had been pushed out of these roles at the end of the war. You can listen to or read their thoughts below.
Assembling light fittings at Armstrong Whitworth and Co
Image: IWM (Q 20080)
Daisy
Women in Shipbuilding Exhibition – Daisy’s Thoughts
I just thought it was really cool that people who probably didn’t have access to all the opportunities that we do now could still get into STEM careers. The photos made it look so easy but it’s really not and I just think that’s really fascinating.
Women workers sewing canvas lagging into place
Image: (Q 20085)
Emma
Women in Shipbuilding Exhibition – Emma’s Thoughts
I don’t really know a lot about shipbuilding in Gateshead and women in shipbuilding specifically and it was quite interesting to get to know more about it and see what it looked like, who was doing it in the pictures and all the different jobs that they had.
Excavating a wet basin on Teeside
Image: (Q 20143)
Hannah
Women in Shipbuilding Exhibition – Hannah’s Thoughts
I thought one thing for me was seeing the outfits. In that time period it would have been very unlikely that women would have worn the typically masculine outfits without a reason and this was obviously a very, very good reason.