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