The Shell Crisis of 1915 largely contributed to weakening public appreciation of government of the United Kingdom during World War I because it was widely perceived that the production of artillery shells for use by the British Army was inadequate. This was later perceived by historians to be a significant factor in the increase of decisions for a new Prime Minister during the political crisis of 1916.

After the failure of the Battle of Neuve Chapelle, the British Commander-in-Chief Field Marshal Sir John French mentioned to The Times war correspondent, Colonel Charles à Court Repington, that it failed due to a lack of shells. The Shell Scandal was reported back to the Home Front by The Times, which described the scandal in graphic detail: 'We had not sufficient high explosives to lower the enemy's parapets to the ground...The want of an unlimited supply of high explosives was a fatal bar to our success' (The Times, May 1915).This clearly pointed the finger of blame at the government.^[1]

This led to the Shell Crisis of 1915, which brought down the Liberal British government under the Premiership of Herbert Henry Asquith. He formed a new coalition government dominated by Liberals and appointed Lloyd George as Minister of Munitions. The Munitions of War Act 1915 prevented recruitment of munitions workers without their employer's consent. It was a recognition that the whole economy would have to be geared for war if the Allies were to prevail on the Western Front.

Supplies and factories in British Commonwealth countries, particularly Canada, were reorganised under the Imperial Munitions Board, in order to supply adequate shells and other materiels for the remainder of the war. The Health of Munitions Workers Committee, one of the first investigations into Occupational safety and health, was set up in 1916 to improve productivity in factories ^[2]

A huge munitions factory, HM Factory, Gretna was built on the English-Scottish border to produce Cordite.

An idle part of a factory in Silvertown was pressed into service to manufacture TNT; this exploded in January 1917, killing 73 and injuring 400 in what is known as the Silvertown explosion.

[edit] External links

• The Shell Scandal, 1915
• HM Factory, Gretna

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[edit] References

• Adams, R.J.A., (1978). Arms and the Wizard: Lloyd George and the Ministry of Munitions 1915 -1916. London: Cassell. ISBN 0-304-29916-2.
• Carnegie, David (1925). The History of Munitions Supply in Canada 1914-1918. London: Longmans Green and Co.
• Lloyd George, David, (1933). War memoirs of David Lloyd George. London: Ivor Nicholson & Watson.

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