VII
MISS AGNES BORTHWICK
Nowoman’s work has more directly furthered the prosecution of the war than that of Miss Agnes Borthwick, who within one year has risen to the unique position—for a woman—of works manager in a great Munition Factory.
When Miss Borthwick sees the trains laden with ammunition steaming out of the factory straight for Southampton, she must feel with justifiable pride that she and her 4000 girls are working for the country as vitally as the soldiers, who will fire the unceasing stream of shells which the girls are sending to them day by day.
Miss Borthwick’s rise to her present position of responsibility has been rapid, even judged by the standards of war promotion. She is of Scottish birth. A woman of high educational attainments, she took an honoursM.A.degree in English at Glasgow University in 1912, and subsequently held a research scholarship at Bryn Mawr College,U.S.A.Miss Borthwick spent two years studying in America, and from Bryn Mawr went to Whittier Hall, University of Columbia, New York, and Barnard Hall, Radcliffe College, Cambridge, Mass. She also did some research work in Harvard Library.
At the outbreak of war Miss Borthwick returnedto England, and in November, 1915, when the newly formed Ministry of Munitions appealed for women workers, she volunteered, and went to Woolwich for a course of training in both the theoretical and practical work of shell and cartridge filling. At the end of five weeks she obtained a first-grade or “excellent” certificate.
In January, 1916, Miss Borthwick was sent to Georgetown-by-Paisley, where a new filling factory was in course of construction. Here she began work with only 24 girls. At first she and her workers scrubbed the shops, cleaned the newly built blocks of buildings, and unloaded the trucks of empty shells, which arrived at the factory ready to be filled with explosives. By the end of January the shops were sufficiently prepared for the real work to begin, and 200 girls were taken on and instructed in filling. After that the factory grew rapidly. Every week from 30 to 50 girls were engaged, who started work in the new blocks, which were taken over from the builders as fast as they were finished. Two months later Miss Borthwick was promoted from forewoman to assistant works manager, and in May, on the promotion of the works manager, she took his place. By the end of 1916 the 24 original workers had increased to 4000 girls, and when an inspector came round to inquire into the question of labour dilution he was unable to eliminate a single man, for the only men employed in the factory were a few engineers and mechanical experts.
Not only do the girls do all the filling of 18-pounder shells and cartridges of all sizes, but they also do the packing of the filled shells, and the trollying to the railway. The medical and nursing staff, thepolice patrol, the fire patrol, and the canteen workers are all women. Work never ceases night and day. The girls work in shifts of eight and three-quarter hours.
There are now 130 shops, and the factory covers such a large acreage that its boundary is about five miles round. Above everything else, it must not be forgotten that the _entire_ work of this factory is what is called “danger work.” Although every possible precaution is taken for the safety and health of the workers, in all handling of powerful explosives the element of danger must be present.
Miss Borthwick is only twenty-seven. She is a fresh-looking girl with a very quiet manner, suggesting a reserve of resolution and courage eminently necessary in her work. On her shoulders rests the heavy responsibility for the successful working of the factory, and she has helped to develop it in an incredibly short time from a few huts to the throbbing hive of industry which it is to-day. Owing to her efficiency, and because she has never failed to make good whatever she has undertaken, she has earned this great opportunity of service to the country. She talks of her work as calmly and naturally as if there were nothing remarkable about it. Yet she made this admission while on a recent three days’ leave: “Until I came away from the factory, I hadn’t realised how heavy and how unending the responsibility is.”