Workshop of the World

Impact of the War - Shipbuilding

• The war had an immediate impact of the Clydeside shipyards where 90% of Scotland’s shipbuilding capacity was concentrated and where the bulk of Britain’s biggest commercial and naval warships were built.

Important Yards

• Three firms were immediately designated as naval dockyards under Admiralty control– William Beardmore at Dalmuir– John Brown at Clydebank– Fairfield at Govan

• All these yards had long experience of building naval ships

Munitions of War Act

• Passed in 1915

• Brought essential industries under Government control

• This was a sensible move as it secured production

• It also safeguarded jobs

• Many of the ships that fought at the famous Battle of Jutland were Clyde built.

Naval Race

• The pre-war naval race with Germany had meant good business for the Clyde.

• By 1913 the volume of shipbuilding on the Clyde had grown to 757,000 tons and the total number of workers dependant on the industry was estimated to be 100,000 or 14% of the male working population.

• It was a crafts-based industry and men took great pride in the ships they built ensuring high quality.

• Britain’s defence policy giving preference to the Royal Navy meant that there was almost no let-up in the production of warships.

• This constant production was also encouraged in part by the introduction of the ultra-modern Dreadnaught, a powerful new battleship which made its rivals obsolete overnight.

• At the start of the war 13 battleships were under construction and nine battle-cruisers were on the stocks.

• During the course of the war Britain’s shipyards built a further 842 warships and 571auxiliary vessels

• Skilled workers could not volunteer for the armed forces and were exempted from conscription.

Scottish Yards

• Clydebank (John Brown)– 2 Battle-cruisers– 1 aircraft carrier– 3 light cruisers– 37 destroyers– 3 submarines– 1 depot ship

• Govan (Fairfield)– 2 battle-cruisers– 5 light cruisers– 29 destroyers– 13 submarines

• Dalmuir (Beardmore)– 1 aircraft carrier– 2 light cruisers– 19 destroyers– 13 submarines

• Greenock (Scott)– 3 light cruisers– 19 destroyers– 8 submarines– 1 12-inch-gun monitor

• Dumbarton (Denny)– 1 aircraft carrier– 3 flotilla leaders– 27 destroyers– 8 submarines

• Scotstoun (Yarrow)– 29 destroyers– 1 submarine– 16 river gunboats– 1 depot ship

Impact of the War- Steel

• In the steel working industry Scotland produced 1.2 million tons

• Demand for steel for munitions meant that the Scottish figure had doubled by 1918

• 24,000 men in full employment in the Clyde valley by 1918

• 1918- 90% of the country’s armour plate was being produced in Glasgow.

Impact on the West

• Brought employment and wealth into Glasgow and the surrounding industrial areas (Clydeside etc)

• The traditional heavy industries were booming as a result of the need to produce weapons of war.

• Glasgow deserved its name as the 2nd city of the empire.

What other towns benefited during the war?

• Edinburgh– Engineering and Rubber Industries– Railways prospered

• Dundee– Home to the British Jute Industry– 69 firms importing Jute– Used for sandbags, army sacks– 25% of male workers and 67% of female workers

worked in the Jute industry in Dundee.– By 1916 the army were needing 6 million sacks a

month.

Fishing Industry

• Major industry before the First World War, employing over 32,500 men. By 1917, employing fewer than 22,000 men.

• North Sea almost totally closed to fishing. – Why?

• Fishing only allowed in inshore areas on the West coast, banned in the Firth of Clyde

• East coast ports taken over by the Admiralty, neutral fishing boats banned

• Might get caught up in fleet action without notice

• As a result, catches were much reduced

• Loss of herring trade to Russia and Northern Germany caused a slump

• Restrictions on how much could be fished pushed up prices and by 1917 white fish was rationed

• From 1917 onwards: slight improvement to industry when the Germans started unrestricted submarine warfare. Industry was put under pressure to produce more catches to feed the population.

• Hardly business as usual!

• Many of the Scottish fishermen and merchant navy sailors who lost their lives came from the Western Isles; a local perception that these areas suffered disproportionately.

• Long tradition of service in the merchant navy

• Royal Navy Reserve (Trawler Section), 8,000 strong, kept the industry going when restrictions elsewhere prevented its operation. 2,000 of these fishermen came from Lewis.

Agriculture

• Food became increasingly scarce and more expensive as the war progressed. Government promoted self-sufficiency by introducing measures to make more farmland arable.

• Food was largely imported to Britain• By autumn 1916, food situation was grim.

16th Oct 1916 the average increase in the price of foodstuffs was 65%.

Examples of Food increase

• Sugar rose by 166%

• Fish and eggs 100%

• Margarine 19%

• Milk 39%

• Potatoes 53%

• Food was becoming increasingly expensive and scarce.

• The agricultural problem was exacerbated by manpower shortages which saw the agricultural labour market in Scotland drop from a pre-war high of 107,000 to 89,000 by the cessation of hostilities in 1918.

• As had happened in the coal industry, disproportionate numbers of young Scottish farm-workers had volunteered in 1914 and 1915, taking much needed men away from the land.

• Main contribution from farming in Scotland was from sheep farming: wool and meat.

• In 1916 the whole of Scotland’s wool clip was purchased by the government under a scheme to provide raw materials for the clothing trade and to meet the demands for uniforms.

• As a result the shepherds’ wage doubled from 20 shillings to 40 shillings a week.

• All told, before the introduction of food controls in 1917 Scottish farming prospered during the war with wages doubling.

• e.g. the average wage for a ploughman in 1914 was 21 shillings 6 pence, 1919 it had risen to 49 shillings and 2 pence

• Productivity remained high