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, Armoury Road) and the Royal Small Arms Factory in Sparkbrook. ...
Munitions Training at Birmingham Technical School
In addition to an application form for training men and youths in the manufacture of munitions of war, this letter includes rules for armaments classes and a timetable for the instruction of disabled ...
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 engineering factories in the suburbs, accepted commissions ...
War Munitions Volunteer Badge
This badge was in use from 1916 and was assigned to skilled men not already involved in other vital war work; they were issued by the Ministry of Munitions for employees of official armaments companies ...
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 soldiers as the 'Mills Bomb', he was born in Sunderland ...
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 become common for ‘an engineering shop to be staffed almost ...