WW1 Armaments production Newcastle Upon Tyne

During World War I, Newcastle upon Tyne was a global hub for armament production, primarily through the industrial giant Armstrong Whitworth. The company’s massive Elswick and Scotswood works produced a vast array of war materiel, making it the largest munitions company in the world at the time. 

Key Armaments and Production

The factories along the River Tyne manufactured a wide variety of armaments and related equipment: 

• Guns and Artillery: The Elswick works had a long history of making naval and field guns. During the war, the Scotswood factory alone produced 13,000 guns.
• Ammunition: Production included 14.5 million shells, 18,000 fuses, and 21,000 cartridge cases.
• Warships and Shipbuilding: Armstrong Whitworth built complete warships and their armaments at their Elswick and Walker naval shipyards, playing a major role in the naval arms race.
• Aircraft: The company also built aircraft on Newcastle’s Town Moor.
• Other Equipment: This included searchlights, hydraulic machinery, and components like trench periscopes and clinometers produced by smaller local firms such as N.F. Ramsay & Co.. 

The Industrial Landscape

• Elswick and Scotswood Works: These were the primary sites of production, stretching for over a mile along the River Tyne. By the end of the war, Armstrong Whitworth employed 78,000 people, with 60,000 working on the Tyne.
• Lemington Munitions Factory: Known locally as “Canary Island,” this isolated factory at Lemington Point produced cordite, a yellow-coloured explosive, traces of which often remained on workers’ skin and hair.
• Birtley National Projectile Factory: Due to a national shell shortage and a lack of skilled workers, the government established a National Projectile Factory in Birtley, South Tyneside (then County Durham), specifically recruiting skilled Belgian armament workers who lived in a purpose-built village called Elisabethville. 

The vast scale of the Newcastle armaments industry meant the region had a disproportionately large impact on the war effort and its eventual outcome.