HM Factory OWS badge?

[dumdum]

Hi

Can anyone please let me know what was being produced in Oldbury during WW1 and hence creating the need for this badge?

Yes, Google will probably give me the answer, but much more interesting to ask our members!

[mike_vee]

Not 100% sure but I think they were not involved in the manufacturing/engineering side. I have a feeling that I read something (possibly in "From Corn to Cordite") that they were originally a chemical company that switched to explosives ?

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[Mike_2817]

http://www.historywebsite.co.uk/Muse...ry/HTWorks.htm

In Oldbury, Albright and Wilson Limited had gone from strength to strength using improved versions of the Wednesfield furnace. In the early years of the First World War the company developed a range of munitions for the army including phosphorus-filled shells, hand and rifle grenades, and 'Chinese tumblers', and 'plum puddings' for trench warfare. On detonation they liberated phosphorus which produced phosphorus pentoxide, a non-poisonous gas that acted as an extremely efficient smoke screen to mask the enemy's fire.

[mike_vee]

That's an interesting article Mike but the name didn't ring a bell , so I gave in to temptation and did a search .

Graces Guide

1894 Albright and Wilson and Chance Brothers and Co, neighbours in Oldbury, were both engaged in the production of cyanide and decided to join forces. A small subsidiary, British Cyanides Co Ltd, was formed under the chairmanship of Alexander Chance, and a plant was constructed on a piece of land adjacent to both companies.

1898 Oldbury Alkali Co amalgamated with another similar firm of long standing, W. Hunt and Sons of Wednesbury, to become Chance and Hunt.

WWI. Manufactured TNT and ammonium nitrate; the speed with which the TNT plant was built was a source of pride in Chance and Hunt - one million bricks were laid in 19 days and TNT was being despatched 14 weeks after the first sod was cut.

The National Factory Scheme

HM Explosive Factories

The first new national factory in January 1915 for the manufacture of TNT at Oldbury , was managed by a firm of acid manufacurers , Chance and Hunt.


So it is possible that both companies were part of the larger H.M. Factory Oldbury ?

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[ARPCDHG]

In WW2, A&W made the No.74 Phosphorous SIP bottle grenade, essentially a slightly posher Molotov cocktail, as issued to the Home Guard:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No._76...ndiary_grenade

[dumdum]

Hello gents

Many, many thanks for all this info!

This is what I like best about the Forum. Mike, your contributions are always of value and I really appreciate the input of other members too.

[dumdum]

Hi

I've just posted this photo on another site and thought that it might also interest our members.

I'm guessing that this is the firm that turned out THE Mills bomb but am always prepared to stand corrected.

Size-wise, it's the same as the British Aluminium Co badge that turns up a fair bit.

[mike_vee]

Originally Posted by dumdum

I'm guessing that this is the firm that turned out THE Mills bomb but am always prepared to stand corrected.

Didn't they also produce romantic novels ..... Mills & Boom !



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[dumdum]

Hi Mike

Very nice! Wish I'd thought of that one!

[manchesters]

William Mills was certainly involved in the patent for the first Hand Grenade No. 5, see first page of his patent below.

However I believe his company that he set up was the Mills Munitions Company and not William Mills Limited.

regards

[Charliedog012012]

Originally Posted by dumdum

Hi

I've just posted this photo on another site and thought that it might also interest our members.

I'm guessing that this is the firm that turned out THE Mills bomb but am always prepared to stand corrected.

Size-wise, it's the same as the British Aluminium Co badge that turns up a fair bit.

Very nice example and one I have never seen before. Many thanks for posting.
Cheers
James

[mike_vee]

Originally Posted by manchesters

William Mills was certainly involved in the patent for the first Hand Grenade No. 5, see first page of his patent below.

However I believe his company that he set up was the Mills Munitions Company and not William Mills Limited.

regards

William Mills Ltd had a foundry in in Grove Street, on the border of Birmingham and Smethwick.

In the First World War the foundry produced lightweight castings for the newly formed aircraft industry which rapidly grew as part of the war effort. At this time, William Mills invented a terrible weapon, the Mills hand grenade, which was not produced at the foundry, but by the Mills Munitions Factory in Birmingham and by a host of contractors. William Mills opened the munitions factory in 1915, and around 75,000,000 grenades were produced.

In the early 1920s, William Mills Limited was acquired by The British Aluminium Company Limited in order to extend their range of cast aluminium products.

http://www.historywebsite.co.uk/arti...bury/Mills.htm


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[dumdum]

Hello gents

Again the Forum delivers! Might have been nice to have been for the factory as detailed but even so....

There appear to have been a whole range of bronze(?) badges made to this size and format as I have a good 6-8 of them. They are usually struck of quite thin metal and tend to be hollow backed like a cap/ collar badge.

[dumdum]

Here's another in the same "series". Anyone got any info on this lot?

[dumdum]

What has always struck me is how wonderfully vague the wording on these badges could be.

What was the wearer actually doing?

"Well, it's all rather hush-hush you know..." he said as he eased himself back into the seat on the No 36 tram.....