At the outbreak of war Miss Borthwick returned to England, and in November, 1915, when the newly formed Ministry of Munitions appealed for women workers, she volunteered, and went to Woolwich for a course of training in both the theoretical and practical work of shell and cartridge filling. At the end of five weeks she obtained a first-grade or “excellent” certificate.
In January, 1916, Miss Borthwick was sent to Georgetown-by-Paisley, where a new filling factory was in course of construction. Here she began work with only 24 girls. At first she and her workers scrubbed the shops, cleaned the newly built blocks of buildings, and unloaded the trucks of empty shells, which arrived at the factory ready to be filled with explosives. By the end of January the shops were sufficiently prepared for the real work to begin, and 200 girls were taken on and instructed in filling. After that the factory grew rapidly. Every week from 30 to 50 girls were engaged, who started work in the new blocks, which were taken over from the builders as fast as they were finished. Two months later Miss Borthwick was promoted from forewoman to assistant works manager, and in May, on the promotion of the works manager, she took his place. By the end of 1916 the 24 original workers had increased to 4000 girls, and when an inspector came round to inquire into the question of labour dilution he was unable to eliminate a single man, for the only men employed in the factory were a few engineers and mechanical experts.
Not only do the girls do all the filling of 18-pounder shells and cartridges of all sizes, but they also do the packing of the filled shells, and the trollying to the railway. The medical and nursing staff, the police patrol, the fire patrol, and the canteen workers are all women. Work never ceases night and day. The girls work in shifts of eight and three-quarter hours.
There are now 130 shops, and the factory covers such a large acreage that its boundary is about five miles round. Above everything else, it must not be forgotten that the _entire_ work of this factory is what is called “danger work.” Although every possible precaution is taken for the safety and health of the workers, in all handling of powerful explosives the element of danger must be present.
Miss Borthwick is only twenty-seven. She is a fresh-looking girl with a very quiet manner, suggesting a reserve of resolution and courage eminently necessary in her work. On her shoulders rests the heavy responsibility for the successful working of the factory, and she has helped to develop it in an incredibly short time from a few huts to the throbbing hive of industry which it is to-day. Owing to her efficiency, and because she has never failed to make good whatever she has undertaken, she has earned this great opportunity of service to the country. She talks of her work as calmly and naturally as if there were nothing remarkable about it. Yet she made this admission while on a recent three days’ leave: “Until I came away from the factory, I hadn’t realised how heavy and how unending the responsibility is.”
VIII
MRS. ST. CLAIR STOBART
No woman has seen the war at closer quarters and in more varied fields of action than Mrs. St. Clair Stobart, and no one has worked harder to help the sick and wounded—on the field, in besieged fortresses, at base hospitals, and in the stricken villages of a ravaged and invaded country. Everywhere she has sought and found her opportunity to bear her part in the actual campaign—a part such as no woman has ever taken before.
The outbreak of war found Mrs. Stobart already trained, for she had gained her experience with the Women’s Convoy Corps, which she founded, and which did such successful work in the Balkan War in 1912-1913.
Early in August, 1914, therefore, she was entrusted with the leadership of an ambulance unit, under the organisation of the St. John Ambulance Association, and proceeded at once to Brussels. Before a hospital could be established, the Germans had entered the city, and Mrs. Stobart escaped with difficulty, after having been actually a prisoner in German hands, and condemned to be shot as a spy.