The Power of Sacrifice

Abstract

Mabel Lethbridge was only seventeen years old at the time of the accident that would change her life. In 1916 she “lied to her mother” about the type of work she planned to do and “lied about her age” to get into the munitions factory. Historian David Mitchell tells the story from rare interview with her “nearly fifty years and forty five operations later.” After working in the factory at Hayes, near London, for less than a week, “she volunteered to work one of the antiquated ‘monkey machines’ that forced a mixture of amatol and TNT down into the 18-pounder shell cases. Four girls hauled on a rope to raise a massive weight (the ‘beater’) and then, at a signal, let it drop on the mixture, until it was packed tight.” Although the Ministry of Munitions had condemned this dangerous way of handling TNT, the new machines had not yet arrived at the works, and Miss Lethbridge and her friends were forced to continue filling shells in a manner that had already resulted in numerous accidents. “Toward the end of her shift, as Mabel gave the signal to lower and the ‘beater’ descended on yet another shell, there was a frightful explosion. The workers were blown to bits or burned alive, and she was the sole survivor. Appallingly wounded, she was unconscious for ten days; her left leg was amputated, and surgeons cut and stitched and grafted away at her shattered body.” She was awarded the Order of the British Empire for her bravery, but it must have been poor consolation for the loss of that limb.¹