Samuel Wyld

  General Notes:

One of Samuel's cousins is believed to have emigrated to America.

  Noted events in his life were:

• Residence: 52 Quarry Road, 1890, Bulwell, Nottingham, England.

• 1901 British Census, 1901, Nottingham, England. ⁴ Samuel was 10 years old.

• Family History: Meeting Florence EARL, 1906, Hucknall, Nottingham, England. When Samuel was about 16 he was on his way to the local flower show, at Hucknall where the main attraction was to be a hot-air balloon. On the way he met two young ladies and asked them for directions to the show. After they had talked for a while the three of them decided to go for a walk, instead of going to the show.

One of those ladies was Florence Earl, who was later to become Samuel's wife.

• Family History: Samuel's 21st birthday, 1911, Bulwell, Nottingham, England. Samuel was given a bicycle for his 21st birthday from his mother, Emma. She was not happy about Samuel seeing Florence so she used to puncture his tyres to try to prevent him visiting her.

• Occupation: Pork Butcher, 1914, Bulwell, Nottingham, England. Before the outbreak of the first World War, Samuel and Florence ran a Pork Butcher's shop at 170 Main St, Bulwell. They worked long hours, six days a week to establish this business.

• Residence: 170 Main Street, 1914, Bulwell, Nottingham, England.

• Family History: Pony and trap visits to Uncle Sam WYLD, Abt 1915, Bulwell, Nottingham, England. It is likely that Samuel and Florence, on occassions, would have taken their day of rest, Sunday, to take a pony and trap to visit their Uncle Sam WYLD or Uncle Chris WYLD on their farms at Calverton.

• War Service: WW1, 24 Jan 1917. Samuel served in the Sherwood Foresters in WW1. He was wounded in the hand in April 1918 and then discharged on 4th May 1918.

• History: The formation of The House of Windsor, 1917, England. The House of Windsor came into being in 1917, when the name was adopted as the British Royal Family's official name by a proclamation of King George V, replacing the historic name of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. It remains the family name of the current Royal Family.
During the twentieth century, kings and queens of the United Kingdom have fulfilled the varied duties of constitutional monarchy. One of their most important roles was national figureheads lifting public morale during the devastating world wars of 1914-18 and 1939-45.

• History: The Canary Girls of Chilwell, 1 Jul 1918, Nottingham, England. In the early days of WWI, Germany was superior in armaments; a ratio of 10:1 in guns and 10:3 in shells. As was to be expected, questions were asked in Parliament and the newspapers were highly critical. Kitchener, held to be responsible by many, was sacked. Lord Chetwynd, having connections with the armaments company, Vickers, was appointed in 1915 and charged with putting the situation to rights.

He immediately began a tour of the country, seeking a suitable site for a new armaments factory. By August of that year, he was in Chilwell, where there was a site away from centres of population, but served by a railway for transport of shells, etc. and to bring in a labour force. The site was farmland sheltered by hills, which would contain the blast in the event of an explosion, but was bisected by a public road and dwelling house, Highfield House, was perhaps a problem. The latter problem was solved, Chetwynd himself moved into the house, a tactful, confidence-building initiative.

Chetwynd had only accepted the challenge on condition that he had extensive powers and often used these to gain retrospective permission when time was at a premium. And so the construction of Number Six Shell-Filling Factory proceeded. Materials being in short supply, Chetwynd scoured the land appropriating materials as and when he found them. Steelwork intended for a hotel in London, an engine awaiting delivery were redirected to the Chilwell site. By the 13th September 1915 work began, employing one thousand men constructing fifteen miles of sidings, tunnels and vents and a shaft into the hillside.

Chetwynd then turned his attention to the shell-filling process. Woolwich Arsenal used a “cake-filling” method but suffered premature explosions, and there were shortages of TNT. The French were using a dry powder mix successfully. Chetwynd purchased bakery machinery and experimented with TNT and ammonia nitrate. There were fears that it would not work, but it did.

In March 1916 shell filling began. Women were employed, the only way possible to find sufficient labour for production needs. One sixteen-year old girl, Lottie Williams, applied. She learned how to drive an overhead crane. This involved a considerable climb up into the cabin. For such reasons women were issued with ‘all-in-one’ outfits - for those days very close-fitting and daring. The women also had to strip and be examined by the ‘Super’! The ‘Wooden Hut Boy’ collected cigarettes, matches, etc. and issued a tally in exchange. Anyone found breaking the rules was heavily fined. A second offence meant dismissal. Under a scheme initiated by Lord Derby, men unfit for active service were directed to armament production. Known as ‘Derby men’ they numbered one thousand at Chilwell. In addition to shells and bombs, mines were also produced.

There were, of course, attempts by Zeppelins to raid the site, following the course of the river Trent.

The women left domestic service, the lace trade, etc. and lied about their age to obtain employment. The hours were long, but there were ‘perks’! Cheap travel on the railway was available but this involved a long walk to the station, as hours were long and would today be called unsocial.

A wage of £2 a week for men and 30s for women, although advertised as ‘huge’, were only so by comparison. The fact that there was a six-bed hospital and a dentist on site and a canteen for meal breaks offering a two-course meal for 10d a day, shopping facilities that saved precious time otherwise spent in a queue, made the job attractive. There was a ladies’ football team and tug o’war, while the band was considered good enough to perform at a Buckingham Palace Garden Party in 1919.

On the 16th December 195, King George V visited the factory and was so impressed by what he saw that the resulting publicity caused such a rush of visitors that production fell. Chetwynd immediately instituted a system whereby he could severely curtail this interruption.

But, deadly poisons were being handled daily. Employees began to suffer irritant chest pains, nausea, yellowing of the skin. A resultant article in The Lancet brought publicity and various recommendations were made. Ventilation was improved, masks were provided, employees were encouraged to eat a healthy diet, and to have at least one bath a week. Shifts were limited to eight hours and weekly medicals were to be instituted.

Despite several minor, localized explosions, everything seemed fine until 1st July 1918, when eight tons of TNT exploded without warning. 134 persons were killed, of these, only thirty-two were positively identified, and 250 were injured. It was an extremely hot day and general opinion seems to support the theory that this had been the trigger. Some people just disappeared, like the man cycling past, whereas the ‘Hut Boy’ survived. He had been sitting down and the blast passed over his head. Ceilings came down and ash fell from the sky for miles around. The explosion was even heard in the Vale of Belvoir.

Handcars, buses, cars, everything available was used to rush the injured to hospitals, but the war was ongoing and by July 4th, rebuilding had begun.

Funerals, where identification was impossible, were in a mass grave at Attenborough Churchyard. The King sent a telegram and as the name of the factory could not be revealed for security reasons, Chilwell was referred to as ‘The V.C. Factory’.

Scotland Yard investigated. It had been a hot day and the powder was sticky, a bolt had fallen into the machinery. All these explanations were considered. Sabotage was even suggested. However, the final report was never even given to Lord Chetwynd.

In November 1918 the Armistice came into operation. By this time Chilwell had produced more than nineteen million shells.

On the 75th anniversary of the explosion, survivors attended a memorial service. A memorial remains on the site.

Despite the dangers and discomforts of the working conditions, the factory was advertised as a “gay” workplace (in the older sense of the word) for workers, who certainly did not lose their sense of humour. When a lavatory ticket system was introduced with a penny repaid on unused tickets, a ditty was composed explaining the system. Lord Chetwynd, on hearing it, had copies printed and sold for charity!

by Maureen Rushton

Further to this article by Maureen Rushton, the explosion on 1st July 1918, when eight tons of TNT exploded without warning and 134 persons were killed, was the huge blast that Samuel WYLD heard when he was having his tea after working at the factory all day.

• Residence: 33 Kilbourne Street, 1918, Nottingham, England. samuel and Florence went to live with her mother, after WW1.

• Occupation: Clerk ?, Abt 1919, Nottingham, England. After the war Samuel and Florence and the young Edwin, went to live with Florence's mother, Alice Earl, at 33 Kilbourne Street, Nottingham. Samuel found a job at the Chilwell Ordanance Depot. One day he had just returned home from work and was having his tea when there was an enormous explosion at the Depot.
This explosion on 1st July 1918, when eight tons of TNT exploded without warning and 134 persons were killed, was the huge blast that Samuel WYLD heard when he was having his tea after working at the Depot all day.

• Occupation: Clerk ?, Abt 1920, Newark, Nottingham, England. Samuel was employed for a brief period in about 1920 at the Ransome and Marles business in Newark.

• Occupation: Butcher, 1920, Bulwell, Nottingham, England. Samuel and Florence took over the running of the Butcher's shop at 80 Commercial Road from Samuel's mother Emma.
Shortly after this Emma married her Brother-in-Law, Edmund Hoskins, whose wife Elizabeth Wyld had died in 1921. Edmund would have been about 73 and Emma about 48. They went to live in a house in Mapperley.

• Residence: 80 Commercial Road, 1920, Bulwell, Nottingham, England.

• Wedding: Edwin Earl WYLD to Dorothy Spencer DISNEY, Sep 1939, Bulwell, Nottingham, England. The wedding of Edwin Earl WYLD to Dorothy Spencer DISNEY took place in this year.

• Family History: World War II, 1940, Nottingham, England. During the Second World War Jack HAYWOOD, Jim CAULTON, and Samuel WYLD all operated Butcher's Shops in the Bulwell area of Nottingham.
Not only were the customers rationed and have to produce their ration books, but also the shop keepers were "rationed" in the amount of meat they could sell to those customers. Exceeding the regulated quantity could result in fines if caught. Many shop keepers did exceed their limits but were able to avoid detection.
The three butchers, Jack, Jim and Sam all, at various times had excess meat on their premises, and their approach to avoid detection involved moving the meat between each others shops when an inspector was making his inspections.

Jack HAYWOOD was caught later on selling meat he had obtained on the black-market, probably stolen. Jack was prosecuted and recieved a heavy fine.

• Wedding: Arthur William LEVERITT to Kathleen WYLD, 17 Jul 1941, Bulwell, Nottingham, England.

• Wedding, 8 Jul 1950, Disley, Lancashire, England. Samuel WYLD attended the wedding of John FRASER to Sybil Mary RUSHTON.

• Residence: ??????, 1940, Nuthall, Nottingham, England.

Samuel married Florence Caroline Earl on 12 May 1913 in Bulwell, Nottingham, England. (Florence Caroline Earl was born on 14 Sep 1890 in Hucknall, Nottingham, England, died on 20 Oct 1984 in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia and was buried in Oct 1984 in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.)

  Noted events in their marriage were:

• Marriage, 12 May 1913. Samuel and Florence were married at St Mary's Church in Bulwell