The Canary Girls

The Bright Yellow Women of War

https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205196366

At present day we are about 100 years removed from the The Great War and about 80 years since its even bloodier successor, the 2nd World War (because it only took 20 years to forget the lessons from the first one). After all this time, the impacts are still seen today. We can see the grass covered pockmarked scars in battlefields of the past. Farmers in France and Belgium routinely dig up bits of the war during the Iron Harvest (see my previous post on that). There are rows of white headstones in several neatly manicured cemeteries. There are countless stone memorials with an endless list of names. The First World War had a great cost.

But the cost of the war was not just paid with blood spilled on battlefield or Europe’s draining coffers, but also with the work and sacrifices of women. Women took on several roles during the Great War such as being nurses, Red Cross ambulance drivers, and taking on traditional male jobs. One of these jobs was working in munition factories (National WW1 Museum and Memorial, 2024). There were many dangers associated with working in munition factories.

Working in munition factories was harsh, backbreaking, and dangerous with long hours and little rest (Imperial War Museum, 2024). Women risked being wounded or killed in accidents while handling explosive materials and working with heavy machinery (Potts and Rimmer, 2017). TNT was discovered to be poisonous in 1914. Factories began to provide protective clothing and attempted to limit exposure, but there was only so much they could do (Potts and Rimmer, 2017). Women were provided milk in an attempt to prevent poisoning (Smith, 2019).

Another strange side effect experienced by munitions workers was their skin and hair turning bright yellow. This dying of their skin was from picric acid which is found in TNT and it is how they came to be known as Canary Girls (Smith, 2019). If a canary girl was pregnant, her baby was often born bright yellow. For both the women and their babies, the yellow was a nuisance, but it would wear off in time. This type of skin yellowing was not the same as turning yellow from jaundice caused by liver damage. However, many women did develop liver damage and jaundice after prolonged exposure to TNT (Potts and Rimmer, 2017). It is estimated that about 400 women died from TNT poisoning during the First World War (Smith, 2019).

I was fascinated by this tidbit of history because I’d never heard of Canary Girls. I came across it while reading a historical fiction novel, No-Man’s Land by Simon Tolkien. I highly recommend this book, by the way. It is incredible. Anyway, after I came across the a character who was affected by this, I got curious and started Googling. I found some fascinating information including this video by Fact Feast on YouTube:

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I don’t think we have enough conversation about the contributions of women in World War 1. They stepped up and made sacrifices. I have read a lot about the nurses during my research (another future topic for this blog, I’m sure), but up until now I have not read much about the women who worked in manufacturing. I simply failed to stop and consider what it meant to not have modern day industrial safety standards and technology during that time. These women were going to work everyday aware that they were risking their lives. They may or may not have fully understood the long term health risks, but they definitely knew the risks of attacks, explosions, and accidents (Potts and Rimmer, 2017).

Women’s contributions are too often glossed over in history. Let’s not forget their contribution to the First World War. There were women who served as nurses, ambulance drives, volunteered with the Red Cross, worked in factories, operated switchboards, and many other roles (The National WW1 Museum and Memorial, 2024).

Let us especially not forget the bright yellow canaries who sang as they worked.

References:

Imperial War Museum. (2024). The Dangers of Working in WW1 Munitions Factory. https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/9-women-reveal-the-dangers-of-working-in-a-first-world-war-munitions-factory

National Records of Scotland. (2024). The Munitionettes and the Work of Women in the First World War. https://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/research/learning/first-world-war/the-munitionettes-and-the-work-of-women-in-the-first-world-war

National WW1 Museum and Memorial. (2024). Women in WW1. https://www.theworldwar.org/learn/women

Potts, Lauren, and Rimmer, Monica. (2017 May 20). The Canary Girls: The Workers the War Turned Yellow. BBC News. https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-39434504

Smith, Ian. (2019 August 6). Canary Girls. Amgueddfa Cyrmu. https://museum.wales/articles/2053/Canary-Girls-/#:~:text=The%20work%20in%20this%20factory,to%20the%20nickname%20canary%20girls.