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Home » Industry » Metal mining and manufacturing » Women in the workplace

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Page 1

  • This is a photograph of one of the women workers, known locally as 'copar ledis', who worked at the Amlwch copper mines on the island of Anglesey. The women were employed to clean and break up the copper ore. The 'copar ledis' wore a thick glove on their left hand with iron rings around the fingers in order to handle the ore. A popular song which was sung during the nineteenth century gave the following description of the Anglesey 'copar ledis': 'Maent oll yn ferched medrus A hwylus hefo'u gwaith A'u henwau geir yn barchus Gan fwynwyr o bob iaith; Hwy weithient oll yn galed Am gyflog bychan iawn O'r braidd cant drigain ceiniog Am weithio wythnos lawn.' Translation: ('They are skilful women and able at their work; and miners of all nationalities regard them with respect. They work hard for a very small wage, hardly earning fourteen shillings a week'). Source: John Rowlands, Copper Mountain (Llangefni, 1966).
Anglesey 'copar ledi', 19th century
  • A football team formed by women workers at a First World War munitions factory housed in an old flannel mill by the Montgomery canal at Welshpool. Their football is marked 'Night shift', a reminder that arms production would have continued round the clock for much of the war.
Welshpool Munitions factory, women's football team, 1915
  • Hilda worked at the munitions factory, Queensferry, between 1916 and 1918. The HM munitions factory at Queensferry employed 7,000 people at its peak during the First World War, with females comprising the majority of the production staff. The factory specialized in the manufacture of high explosives and gun cotton (explosive cellulose nitrate) which posed serious health and safety hazards for the employees. Given the hazardous nature of these materials, it is remarkable that only four people lost their lives as a result of accidents in the factory. However, serious injuries, burns and ill health were extremely common and over 12,500 accidents were reported during 1917-18.
Hilda, munitions worker at Queensferry, 1916-18
  • On this page the author expresses his surprise at the number of women working in the iron works. 'I had been struck with the number of girls that were employed around the kilns and furnaces. They were engaged in breaking up masses of coke, limestone, and
Extracts from 'A visit to the iron works and environs of Merthyr Tydfil in 1852', page 23 [image 7 of 9]
  • The author continues to describe his amazement at the lack of femininity of the women in the iron works.
Extracts from 'A visit to the iron works and environs of Merthyr Tydfil in 1852', page 24 [image 8 of 9]