World War I
World War I 1914 - 1918 brought a huge upsurge in demand. The Mills increased staff numbers by around 3000 to a total of 6230. The 3000 additional workers were largely female, recruited from the surrounding area and this was a significant social phenomenon.
After WWI there was again a period of quiet before anxieties about the future again surfaced. It was decided that production at Waltham Abbey would be gradually transferred to the west of the country, safer from air attack from Europe. However in the meantime production continued and crucial development work was carried out on TNT production and on the new explosive RDX.
Read more about this topic: Waltham Abbey Royal Gunpowder Mills
Famous quotes containing the words war i, world and/or war:
“War is a beastly business, it is true, but one proof we are human is our ability to learn, even from it, how better to exist.”
—M.F.K. Fisher (1908–1992)
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The poisonous damp of night disponge upon me,
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Nobler than my revolt is infamous,
Forgive me in thine own particular,
But let the world rank me in register
A master-leaver and a fugitive.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
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Ah! we’ve had many horses, but never a horse like her!”
—Constance Fenimore Woolson (1840–1894)