in what was britain’s first industrial war, huge amounts of munitions were needed   but the men who dominated manufacturing jobs had left to fight so it was down to more than 600,000 women to take on roles in mills, laboratories and factories to help the first world war effort on the home front and these photographs show women munitions workers making shells and fuses for the first time in a greater manchester factory in 1915 teamwork: women munitions workers began making shells and fuses for the first time in this factory in oldham, greater manchester, in 1915  posed up: one electrical engineering firm that diversified and began to employ women in 1915 was owned by sebastian ziani de ferranti  many firms in the north west and elsewhere converted to start making munitions in the war, with women now working alongside men in these jobs and one electrical engineering firm that diversified and began to employ women in 1915 was owned by sebastian ziani de ferranti in oldham the company had previously made meters and transformers, but switched production to fuses and 18 pounder shells in 1915 in the same year, mr de ferranti hired the first female supervisor   family friend olivia forbes, who ended up working for the firm for 40 years it was her job to recruit new female workers at the factory, where there were more than 1,000 women working by the end of the war in 1918 katie belshaw, curator of an exhibition on manchester’s war effort, said: ‘it was something that had to be done because the men were going off to fight hard work: many companies  converted to start making munitions during the war, with women now working alongside men in these jobs  getting involved: britain was facing a huge shortage of munitions on the front lines in 1915, leading to what became known as the shells crisis  ‘but instead of the women coming in and doing the same job that a male skilled worker would do, they broke down the job into smaller pieces' she told mailonline: ‘they would have worked on turning the shells and finishing them   making them smoother once they had been manufactured ‘they even were driving trucks around the factory, operating lifts   they really were doing what the men were doing’ britain was facing a huge shortage of munitions on the front lines of the war in 1915, leading to what became known as the shells crisis the government appointed david lloyd george as munitions minister, which prompted the construction of new shell factories across britain the exhibition at manchester's museum of science and industry features diaries, company archives, sketches and letters written by mr de ferranti diversifying: the company had previously made meters and transformers, but switched production to fuzes and 18 pounder shells in 1915  family: the exhibition at museum of science and industry features diaries, sketches and letters written by mr de ferranti (second left, back) these include letters the engineer wrote to his sons basil and vincent fighting at the front and rare sketches of his munitions also featuring are images of his daughter vera who worked on the production line at her father’s factory during the war and there will also be a section on the munitions inventions department, which received ideas submitted by the public on how to win the war examples of rejected inventions range from training seagulls to defecate on enemy periscopes to mounting machine guns on artificially frozen clouds rachel knight, head of exhibitions at the museum, said visitors will be given an ‘insightful, original and personal take’ on the war the innovation race: manchester’s makers join the first world war is open at the museum of science and industry from saturday until april 2016 suffragist and suffragette leaders volunteered their members to take the place of men in industrial work after they went off to fight in the war while the offer was at first met with scepticism by the government, eventually the numbers of men leaving meant they had to take on these women more than 600,000 women became employed in munitions factories and performed other roles such as working as bus conductors or farm hands then, in 1918, the right to vote was given to 'respectable' women aged over 30 who were householders, or married to householders historians have debated how much this was down to the war effort, with some saying the vote was a token of thanks for women’s efforts in the uk others believe war sped up a process which began before the conflict started, with it highlighting women’s huge economic value to britain it is also said the women’s political cause gained credibility during the war because they served such a huge role   especially in the medical services in 1928 women were given equal voting rights with men, with 15million females eligible to vote in the general election the following year
first world war home front sebastian ziani de ferranti oldham greater manchester 1918 18 pounder
600,000 women took on roles in mills, laboratories and factories to help first world war effort on home front . 1,000 of these were working at sebastian ziani de ferranti in oldham, greater manchester, by end of war in 1918 . his firm had previously made meters and transformers, but switched production to fuses and 18 pounder shells 