Lee Enfield Rifle

During WW1 the Lee Enfield rifle was manufactured in Birmingham at two factories: the Birmingham Small Arms Company in Small Heath (at BSA Guns, Ar...

Mills Munitions Workers

This photograph shows the staff of the Mills Munitions Factory in Bridge Street West, Newtown, Birmingham, which supplied the 'Mills Bomb' hand gre...

Roland Grenade

This is a section of the Belgian Army hand grenade used by Allied forces at the start of WW1; William Mills, who had settled in Edgbaston and owned...

William Mills (1856-1932)

Although William Mills is famous as the Birmingham inventor and engineer who developed the hand grenade familiarly known to First World War British...

Women Workers at Mills Munitions Factory

This photograph shows women manufacturing grenade base plugs at the Mills Munitions factory in Birmingham. Soon after the outbreak of war it had be...