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2 unusual facts about National Shell Filling Factory


Munitionettes

Explosions at British munitions factories during World War I included the 1917 Silvertown explosion, in which 73 people were killed and over 400 injured, and a 1918 explosion at the National Shell Filling Factory, Chilwell, which killed over 130 workers.

National Shell Filling Factory, Chilwell

In a speech reported in The Times, on 9 July 1918, Mr F. G. Kellaway, MP, Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Munitions speculated that, as the French had apparently given an honour to the Citadel of Verdun, perhaps the factory should be awarded the Victoria Cross.


Godfrey Chetwynd, 8th Viscount Chetwynd

From 1915-19, he was managing director of the National Shell Filling Factory No. 6, Chilwell, Nottinghamshire, which he designed and built; for which he was a made a Companion of Honour for his services to the war effort.

Viscount Chetwynd

His great-great-grandson, the eighth Viscount, served as managing director of the National Shell Filling Factory at Chilwell in Nottinghamshire during the First World War.


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